The Adventures of the Lucen: The VykurCorp Conspiracy
by General Rage
Summary: Liara T'Soni continued her mission to protect the Galaxy while Commander Shepard is in another dimension. She must stop the Covenant and the allies they've gathered from wreaking havoc in a Galaxy without it's greatest hero. While she's had some success, there's a gathering storm on the horizon and one of her crew of misfits will be forced to confront her past before it clears.
1. Morning Aboard the Lucen

**The Adventures of the Lucen:**

 **The VykurCorp Conspiracy**

 **Chapter One: Morning Aboard the Lucen**

Pulling her head out of the pile of junk food wrappers and bags, Nelanax Catonis woke up from her slumber. It had been a long night of watching awesome action vids, although everyone had left by midnight galactic standard time. She supposed she couldn't blame them, they just didn't have the stamina for a movie marathon like she did. Ah well, at least it had been a fun night. Vik had even prevented himself from going on about whatever systemic oppression screed he had brewing in his head. She still hadn't gotten Liara drunk enough to make her kiss her though. That Asari was almost impossible.

Nel briefly pondered whether or not she should get up. Her head still felt like it needed to go back to the pillow on the sofa. Then again, it was probably pretty late in the morning and chances were Liara would tell her to get up anyway. She needed to stretch her legs anyway she supposed. She pulled herself out of the mess of empty snack bags and crumbs that had formed around her. As she prepared to step down off the sofa she was careful to check with her foot there weren't any cans or bottles in her way. She learned the hard way to be wary of that when she tripped on one getting up.

It was times like this she briefly considered being less of a slob and throwing her trash away more regularly. That seemed like too much work for the moment though, so she pushed that thought aside, got up and headed towards a nearby mirror. She needed to be sure her face wasn't covered in crumbs or something else embarrassing. She would not go around looking like a idiot if she could help it. She smoothed her fingers across her face, following the red tribal tattoos that adorned it. The upside-down U with lines stretching out from to every corner of her face, an old symbol of an even older colony her family hailed from. The markings were a symbol of pride for all turians, but she took particular reverence in hers. She always made sure to touch up any wear or tear on it when she could. It was one of the few cleanliness rituals she took part in. Everything seemed in order today at least.

She finished with the mirror and opened her omni-tool to check the extranet for news. She didn't expect to find much info on their various activities, Liara was trying to keep them out of the limelight as much as possible. You weren't much of a Shadow Broker if you couldn't keep your business in the shadows.

It still felt weird to Nel, even after having a good while to soak it in. She was working for the Shadow Broker, well at least the most recent person to hold that title as she understood it. Liara had killed the last jackass who had owned that name and took his title. Thing was, barely anyone knew that, not even the other Shadownet Mercs aboard. They all thought she was his new right hand Asari and he was running this operation. It felt cool being trusted with a big secret like that, part of her liked to think it was because Liara was warming up to her. Course, she had told the others the truth too, so she wasn't that special. She hadn't done it lightly either, it was rebuild their trust with her, cement herself as the leader of this crazy crew they had aboard and bring them together as a team.

And they were a team, maybe not on the level of the crew of the _Normandy_ were, but they did alright for themselves. It had been a rocky start of course, she knew that better than anyone. After all, she had come aboard this ship as both a former employee of their current adversaries and a secret addict. Of course, she hadn't been addicted to just any drug, but a synthetic one her own government had cooked up. Things went bad though, as they did with that kind of crap. People died, partially because of her, mostly because of the juice.

That was behind her now though, Liara had seen to that. The forced detox was excruciating, only slightly helped by some special treatments the medics gave her. Still felt like a waking nightmare working through withdrawal. Vomiting, muscle pain, skull-splitting headaches, and that was just the start. In the end, it was worth the pain though. She had taken the juice for so long, trying to compensate for things, be better a soldier and all that. Instead she had just become dependent on the stuff, it held her back. Now she was clean, no more juice. Of course, she'd be lying to herself if she said she never had the craving now and again. Getting sober was a process after all. She refused to go back though, she had a good thing going here on this ship, on this team. She wasn't going to put it at risk again.

As she scrolled through the regular boring old headlines, she eventually spotted a fun one. News on various colonies setting up for Unification Day, the biggest holiday within the Turian Hierarchy. It was Nel's favorite herself, the day the Turian race united itself once and for all. When the Hierarchy itself truly took form with the end of the Unification Wars. Her people had nearly torn themselves apart, bickering over petty colony and tribal rivalries. When the Hierarchy finally stepped in, they quashed the various separatist movements with ease, ending their senseless anarchy and rebellion. The age of infighting and separatism had ended, their people were reborn from the ashes of war. Ever since that day, loyal Turians all over the galaxy celebrated the unity of their people with reverence and pride.

From the sound of things, Palaven was gearing up for a major celebration in the capital city. Parades, speeches, military demonstrations, food, songs, dancing, Vids on outside holoscreens, air shows, and of course fireworks. It was still a few weeks away, but Nel could hardly wait. Sure, she probably couldn't be there to celebrate, what with her new job here and everything, but she could still watch the military parade live and the Fireworks would be recorded too. That was really all she needed.

The thoughts of the holiday brought to mind nostalgia and feelings of home. She wondered if she should act upon on them. Could it really hurt to send a vid mail or call? She shook the thoughts out of her head quickly. No, it would hurt. She had nothing to really say anyway. Maybe to her mom, but no one else. She was in no mood for disapproval or disappointing glares or whatever was in store for her if she did that. Nel had had enough pain in her life for the moment, she wouldn't add to it.

She turned off the omni-tool and brought herself back to the here and now.

"Breakfast would be good I guess," she considered. "Let's see what's on order for today."

She exited her room and made her way to the mess hall. When she got there, she found the place was currently taken over by the onboard krogan contingent. Watching the big humpbacked saurian-like creatures arm wrestle, butt heads and eat their food like giant messy toddlers almost ruined Nel's appetite. She just shrugged it off though, she could get her food and eat somewhere else if she wanted. Probably for the best, you did not want to get in the middle of a pack of krogan while they were eating.

She wasn't really afraid of them, it's just she knew they weren't big fans of her. Not many krogan liked turians, their species didn't have the best history. Her people kinda sorta sterilized them all. However, she imagined even with that animosity they were going to do anything to her except give her some unpleseant stares. These krogan were here for a different purpose, muscle against the real enemy they were fighting, one that was far more worthy of getting their heads smashed in than any turian.

As went up to the counter to get her food, she recalled who that enemy was. The Covenant, a group of alien races banded together under some religious doctrine. One that told them that they were the heirs to the legacy of their Gods and that humans needed to be exterminated. All in all, not the friendliest of bunches. Nel knew that firsthand, she had worked with some of them for awhile, specifically training some of their units. She hadn't known what exactly they were, specifically that they had come from beyond a wormhole that led to another dimension.

She also hadn't realized what she was getting into initially because she was recruited by a mercenary outfit and a military unit of batarians. The latter were a black ops unit who, and at the time she was unaware of this, were masquarading as a band of rogue terrorists. They actually had backing from their government, the Batarian Hegemony. The mercenary outfit was Blood Pack, which probably should've been a bit odd in hindsight considering that they were made of angry krogan in general. They had both allied themselves with the Covenant in some sort of pact. The Covies would help them out with their agenda while the batarians assisted the Covenant in their own. Said agenda was about them basically taking over the galaxy. Typical load of bad guy bullshit, right?

Except that was only part of the plan. Both groups were actually just pawns, here to sow galactic disorder and make things easier for the real threat. Evil aeons old giant machines of death called Reapers, who apparently were just about ready to make their comeback tour to slaughter and or harvest all life in the galaxy. So, typical xenocidal bad guy bullshit.

Nel had only learned all this by teaming up with Liara's crew. It was a rocky start, but they showed her that she was working for the bad guys, specifically that they were using slaves as medical test subjects. Big no-no in her contract, so she terminated it right there and joined up with the hot blue asari and her band of mismatched potential galactic saviours. Despite the fact Nel had initially shot at them a few times when they first met, they eventually warmed up to her and she in turn proved herself a valuable soldier in their cause. Well, once she dumped the juice of course, but still.

As she carefully moved through the rowdy gathering of krogan, she spotted the most significant one among their ranks. Urdnot Wrex, second in command so to speak of these fine soldiers. Although, if you asked one of the said krogan soldiers they'd say he was actually in charge. Whatever suited them, they probably wouldn't take orders from an asari, not directly anyway. They had to listen to Wrex though, he was the leader of Clan Urdnot after all. That made him the Chieftain of head clan among the krogan tribes on Tuchanka, their homeworld. Disobeying him would not be wise.

Nel mostly knew Wrex as the badass krogan who had helped Commander Shepard alongside Liara during that whole Rogue Spectre incident a couple years. How he had gone from mercenary to tribal leader she didn't know, but she did know he was a awesome as the stories claimed. When he and his men discovered the Covenant were messing with Urdnot's power base, they jumped at the chance to take them down.

It helped that the Covies were strong enemies, that was a big thing for krogan, finding a worthy challenge. Wrex had used that to convince a small unit of troops to come along with him and Liara in their mission to stop the Covenant and their newfound allies. To his men, Wrex was just leading a warband to take down a challenging adversary that threatened their way of life. Again, whatever made it easier for them to accept working with aliens, Nel supposed.

"Morning, Wrex," Nel greeted as she approached the krogan leader. "How's breakfast? It's the most important meal of the day, after all. It should at the very least taste good."

Wrex grimaced slightly at her. Yeah, he wasn't her biggest fan. Not because she was turian, but because he still wasn't really sure about her position on this team. She didn't take much personal offence, Wrex was pretty skeptical of everyone Liara had brought aboard. He had softened a little on them all, but she was still on his watch list because of her past as a junkie. Fair enough reason, she supposed. Then again, she knew it was really about watching out for Liara and not really about her personally. The asari and him were close friends. Nel thought it was something more, but Liara insisted it wasn't. She had initially thought that meant Wrex was fair game. No dice, because Wrex apparently would rather chop it off than ever consider the thought of sticking it in her.

Oh well, Nel didn't let that deter her. Krogan weren't the only ones who liked a challenge and she'd win the old reptile's respect eventually. That probably wouldn't lead to anything, but one step at a time.

"It's good," Wrex assured. "Although it doesn't nearly taste as hardy as the chow back home. I'd offer you some to taste for yourself, but different amino acids and all. You'd probably throw up."

"Probably," Nel agreed. "I'm not staying long anyway. Probably going to eat down in the rec room. Have you seen Liara by the way?"

Wrex just shook his head.

"She's been held up in her office for awhile," he explained. "Sounds pretty important. Chances are you'll hear about it before the day is over. So enjoy your food while you can."

A subtle hint that they might have a mission. Neat, Nel thought, she was eager to bust some heads open again. Nel waved goodbye to Wrex and he halfheartedly returned it. Well, it was better than an annoyed grunt. She decided to make her way to the rec room and away from the hungry krogan chowing down on their breakfast. No sense in bothering Liara right now, she wasn't in the talking mood when she was going over intel in her office. She'd check in with the asari later, right now she just wanted to enjoy her food in relative peace.

* * *

She didn't expect to arrive at the rec room and find there was a small crowd there as well though. They weren't a pack of angry krogan, but there was a sizable portion of them. Shadownet Mercs were Liara's main strike force for major operations. They were mostly pooled from ex-military or Colonial Militia from various species. Mostly human though, for being relatively new species to the galactic playing field they sure spread out fast.

Liara had recruited most of them after her hostile takeover over Shadownet had left a considerable dent in their forces. The guys aboard the _Lucen_ were the ones Liara believed she could trust the most. They didn't know she was the Shadow Broker, but they respected her authority and were loyal to her. Even if they thought she was just the second in command, to them she was still the one who spoke for the real boss. Perhaps one day they'd learn the truth, maybe when Liara's position as the infamous Shadow Broker was a lot more secure.

The group in the rec room were currently surrounding another member of the ground team, a salarian in a sleek black outfit and helmet that was slightly swept back. This was Saya Empa, or as Nel called him, the badass ninja frog. Technically, he was only here on loan. He didn't work for Liara, he worked for STG. Apparently Liara encountered him on a mission and they basically sent him along to keep an eye on the operation they were running here. STG didn't like the Covenant making power plays in the galaxy anymore than anyone else did. If Liara was going to hit them they wanted to know what was going down obviously.

There were a few other things peculiar about Saya. For one he routinely fought with a sweet looking sword, the Shiakala. It was an ancient salarian weapon remade for the modern age, with a stronger, sharper metal blade that was further weaponized with an active electrical current that could be turned on and off. Might seem overkill, but when you consider that STG routinely went up against Krogan mercenaries who could shrug off a ton of shredder rounds from a machine gun, well then overkill made sense. Oh, it could also secrete a ballistic gel across the blade that could be spread onto surfaces and detonated remotely. All in all, Nel wished she had one. Or failing that, a gun that shot swords similar to it.

The other peculiar thing was that Saya was mute. Something about a pissed off asshole krogan crushing his windpipe. Took him a long time to recover, apparently cost him the chance of being a Council Spectre. Shame really, but it didn't seem to slow him down or find other ways of communicating. Nel got the impression he wouldn't have said much even with his voice though. Dude was a stone cold professional and he rarely made with the casual conversation, or what would amount to such a thing for him. If he signed anything with his hands or wrote anything down to speak, he would usually do so with Liara. Nel got the feeling he didn't think much of anyone else below his skill grade.

Although if this scene was any indication he had softened a little. He was playing a human game, checkers Nel believed it was called. Currently he was jumping over a few of the red chips with his black ones. Of course he picked black, she thought. She wasn't really sure on the rules, but given there were more black chips on the board then red ones the odds were that Saya was winning.

"How the hell did he get so good so fast?" One of the mercs whispered to his buddy. "He's never played this before."

"Must be the typical salarian super smarts," he replied.

The guy currently playing Saya soon lost his last piece and groaned aloud.

"You know, I'm starting to think not playing to the cliche was a bad idea," he admitted. "We really should've picked chess."

"Dude, none of us good at that one anyway," a friend replied. "What makes you think we'd be doing any better if we had picked that one? Now move over, my turn. I think I got a winning strategy"

Saya signed a few quick words. Remembering what Liara had forced her to memorize about Salarian sign language, Nel was able to figure it out pretty quickly. "So did everyone else so far," was the basic gist of his response to the confident Shadownet Operative.

Nel briefly walked over to the group, still a bit curious over all this. Saya never struck her as this social. Did he just really enjoy kicking other people's ass at board games this much?

"I figured you'd be meditating now, Empa," she told him. "What's with the humiliation lineup?"

"Hey, he's only beat five of us so far," argued one of mercs.

Saya simply signed a quick few words in response, "games keep me sharp" was what he essentially spelled out.

"Whatever floats your boat, I guess," Nel relented. "I hope no one's betting against you at this point."

"Hot streaks don't last, you'll see," one of the Shadownet mercs said with a bit of a glare.

Nel shook her head and decided to leave Saya to his game. At least with all of them so busy trying to beat one salarian at a silly kid's game it left a lot of open space for her to find a place to sit and eat. She would've just chosen a different table if she hadn't spotted Vik and Kayap sitting nearby playing video games on the holoscreen.

"Is this how you hack doors in the field, Vik?" Kayap asked, cocking his head at the screen.

"It's simplified for people who aren't computer experts, Kay," the quarian assured him. "It's a lot harder than just matching the right wires or scrolling through pictures. Now just keep healing that hacked turret, we'll be inside the server room in five seconds."

Nel could see they were playing some kind of kind of co-op infiltration game. Probably the latest in the "System Breaker" series, a bunch of games about a group of hacker freedom fighters trying to liberate their system from corrupt corporations by revealing the truth of said corruption. That seemed like the game that would be right up Vik's alley. The quarian never shut up about that kind of thing.

Vik was odd, even for a quarian. He said he wasn't an exile, but he had fled the Migrant Fleet of his own accord. She wasn't aware they could just do that. As far as she was knew, the guy believed he was being hunted by some galaxy wide conspiracy, or conspiracies, whatever she didn't pay attention to his rants. Liara probably knew more about what Vik's issue was, something in his past that went south very badly. She supposed she could understand how that was like.

Point was, whatever the reason, Vik believed in all sorts of messed up theories on how the galaxy functioned. Although, apparently, he was far more justified in believing those theories than most others. After all, they were fighting an galactic wide conspiracy between batarians and the Covenant. Nel still wasn't sure if him being right was just dumb luck though.

Her and Vik, well, they didn't get along too well. It was worse at the start of this though. She couldn't stand the preachy little anarchist, always going off about every fucking problem he had with everything. Governments, corporations, the media, wars, drugs, almost everything seemed to be part of a conspiracy. She probably didn't help things though, admittedly, antagonizing him constantly.

As time went on though, she kinda grew more respect for the nut. Yeah, he had problems, but she wasn't in that much of a position to judge him. Not after realizing that being a junkie didn't give her much leeway to criticize. Plus, despite his paranoia, he did watch her back more often than she probably deserved after treating him like garbage since they met. She decided she'd ease up on him a little, if only for the good of the team.

Vik still got along way more with Kayap, the most peculiar of this little squad. Like Nel, he had once worked for the bad guys. Unlike Nel, Kayap wasn't from around here. He was something they called an unggoy, a methane breathing stubby little creature that acted as the Covenant's cannon fodder. They gave them guns, kicked them onto the frontlines and let them die in droves to soften their opponents up. Kayap had been fortunate enough to survive all sorts of suicide runs until he met up with Liara during an operation that was targeted against her.

It ended badly for Kayap's squad, not so much for Kayap though as Liara took the poor alien in. He effectively defected and started helping her out. He wasn't the smartest or even bravest of them, but he could handle himself in a fight. Also he was strangely proficient with heavy ordinance, one wouldn't think so of the little guy but he could handle a rocket launcher pretty decently.

He didn't like fighting, but he liked Liara. The asari actually treated him with dignity, like he was a feeling thinking thing and not garbage to be thrown away. In return he was loyal enough to Liara, who had given him a shot at a better life, that he actually volunteered to fight for her cause. What a shock, Nel thought, being nice to someone instead of shitty made a more loyal and potentially braver soldier. The Covenant didn't seem to pick up on that bleedingly obvious bit of common sense.

Vik got along with Kayap mainly because, out of everyone on the ship, they could actually identify with each other better. Quarians weren't exactly a popular race among a lot of alien species for one reason or another. Both of them found some solace in their shared plight of feeling downtrodden and oppressed. So they had a lot in common, but Kay also listened to him more than others. Which kinda cast him in the role of teacher at times. Long and short of it, they just liked keeping each other company at this point. Nel was fine with that, whatever suited them. She just wished that Vik didn't fill Kayap's head full of the same crazy shit he kept spouting.

"System Breakers?" Nel asked, looking on over their shoulders.

"Newest release," Vik replied. "Just downloaded it. Good morning by the way, surprised you're up. Usually you sleep in."

"Yeah well, I'm antsy," she admitted. "We haven't done much of anything since we took that Relay Ship."

The Relay Ship was Nel's short name for the 'Inter-dimensional Communications Relay Vessel' that they had been hunting for a good long while. The search for it got them into a whole heap of trouble, but it was worth it. By taking it they had cut the Covenant off from their home base back in their original dimension. They wouldn't be able to get updates or request reinforcements nearly as fast as they could anymore. Liara though, she could talk to Commander Shepard, who was currently kicking Covenant ass over in their home universe. Technically, they didn't own the Relay Ship, that was the property of Omega Station crime lord Aria T'Loak. Liara had a lot of colorful contacts, the Omega Queen was not that surprising an addition to her list of acquaintances.

"We'll get something eventually," Vik assured. "I hear Liara has been in her office all morning."

"Yeah I know, probably talking to Shepard or something," Nel told him. "Any ideas on who the target is?"

"From what Wrex keeps saying, Liara wants to dismantle the Covenant and Batarian alliance," Vik explained. "I'm thinking we're hitting VykurCorp."

Nel rolled her eyes.

"You think or you hope?" She asked, only slightly incredulously.

"Considering they're apparently backing the Turian Separatist movements, I'm surprised you're asking me that," he said in curt response. "I figured you'd want a bigger piece of them."

VykurCrop was a turian mega corporation, one that was secretly supplying the Covenant under the table. Only recently they had discovered the plan was bigger than that. For some reason, the chief CEO at the head of this initiative, Spadivus Orukuri, was also supplying the burgeoning Separatist movement against the Hierarchy. Even after the Unification War ended some of them were still around, still clinging to the idea of a disunited turian people. Backward yokel fuckers that they were, they never had substantial backing. It was weird that a chief supplier of the Turian military was giving them guns. What Orukuri was doing, no one could say for the moment, but the consensus was it wasn't good for anyone.

"I'm just still not sure this is the entire company, Orukuri is a CEO on the board, but he's not the president," she reminded Vik. "Doesn't mean I won't kick his head in when we eventually catch up to him."

"Just be hopeful he doesn't get too far along in whatever the hell he's doing," Vik cautioned. "As much as I may have problems with the Hierarchy, the Separatist aren't much better with their general xenophobia."

This was a reminder to Nel that Vik wasn't so bad. At least they could agree on few things.

"Why do these Separatists hate the Hierarchy so much?" Kayap asked curiously. "They do something wrong to them?"

"It's mostly a bunch of stupid politics, Kay," Vik assured, his eyes still on the game. "A bunch of idiots a long time ago thought they'd be better off running their colonies their way without the people on the homeworld bothering them. Instead all the colonies started fighting each other until the Hierarchy decided to step in when they were exhausted and brought them in line. Another classic conflict where special interests trumped any real meaning behind the cause."

Vik's history lesson was not as glowing as her old history teachers had made it, but it was partially accurate. She didn't like that last bit though.

"Hey, there was a good cause," Nel reminded him. "One I think you'd appreciate, keeping the Turian people together."

"Through letting them kill each other until they're too weak to actually oppose you anymore?" Vik asked skeptically. "No offense, Nel, but that's not exactly a satisfying resolution to things. Your government didn't really address the problem, you just let it destroy itself."

"It worked, that's all that matters," Nel insisted. "The Hierarchy survived and showed everyone what their little revolution attempts were worth, practically less than shit. The Hierarchy remained united and won, simple as that."

"I'm just saying, you wouldn't have had as many separatist cells out there today if you addressed the reasons it ever got to that point," Vik informed her. "Offering more independence to colonies and better support from the home systems would have kept them from killing each other like they did. And that's just a few issues you could've tried to resolve. But your government chose subterfuge over actual diplomacy."

He was being unfair again, but Nel did not want to get into an argument this early. Besides, there wasn't much to argue over. They really could've done more to stamp out these Separatists in recent years. The Hierarchy was getting a bit lax in dealing with them. They weren't considered as big a threat as other things it seemed. Maybe that was the window Orukuri was currently exploiting.

"I guess you wouldn't be interested in celebrating Unification Day with me then?" Nel asked.

"Not really, sorry," Vik apologized. "To be honest, watching one of your vids is more than enough turian patriotism than I can stomach for awhile."

"Fair enough," Nel shrugged. "Thanks for at least giving them a shot."

"I'm nothing if not open-minded," Vik assured.

Yeah, she noticed, it was why he believed in every crazy friggin thing in the galaxy. She looked back to Kayap.

"As for your original question, Kay," she began, "We didn't really do anything to them, they just think they can run shit better than a central government. Not realizing that they can't really function on their own and have never been able to. They'll tell you it's about independence, but they really just want to be free to take out their petty grievances on one another."

"Oh, I get it now," Kayap reasoned. "It's a personal agenda advanced through lying about intention. Like how the big food companies try to act like they are more health conscious when in reality they're just using fear of obesity to get you to drink mind altering drugs that keep you consuming."

Nel looked at Kayap weirdly, and then shot glare to Vik.

"The actual fuck, dude?" She asked. "What in the hell are you teaching him?"

"I'm teaching him how things really work," Vik argued. "No one else will. It's not like you can trust the media, they're in on it. They purposely make educational channels report wrong facts and support junk shows like 'Intergalactic Visitations' to discredit anyone who actually talks about the truth."

Kayap suddenly turned around.

"Hey, that reminds me," he said. "Did you know that salarian genetic tampering happened a ton on Earth two centuries ago? They were failed attempts at creating a super soldier. It supposedly involved sticking things up people's butts."

"Oh spirits," Nel said placing her claw to her face. "You really are contaminating him with your crazy."

"Am not," Vik replied insistently. "I just want to be sure he knows these things. It's important."

"Yes, we all want to know about STG's butt experiments on humans," Nel said sarcastically, rolling her eyes. "I'm going to eat before you make me prematurely throw up. Enjoy your game, you two. Hopefully the evil shadow government isn't monitoring it for use in training people to be like super hackers or whatever."

"Don't be ridiculous," Vik laughed. "They already have illegal AIs to do that for them. It's how they know everything at all times."

Sometimes it was really hard to tell if Vik was just humoring her. Whatever the case, she decided it was probably best to let him believe whatever he wanted. So long as his insane paranoia gave him the ability to hack doors and subvert security for them, she was fine. She was going to have to struggle not to think about humans getting stuff shoved up their asses. It would probably make for an interesting image in private, but not when she was trying to eat. There was time and a place for everything after all.

* * *

After her breakfast she started making her way to Liara's office. She didn't think she'd get to see her, but she'd wait outside the door until she made an appearance. The asari was getting ready for something big and she wanted to know what. To her surprise she didn't have to wait long, as Liara was stepping out of her office, data pad in hand. She quickly noticed Nel, slurping on her soda from a straw.

"Isn't it a bit early for sugary drinks?" She asked.

"Have you seen what's loaded into kids' cereals these days?" Nel shot back. "I think this is hardly the worst thing I could be having after my breakfast."

"Fair enough," Liara said as she shrugged.

"So what's happening, Doc?" Nel asked casually. "You've been in there all morning from what I hear."

"I was giving Shepard an update on things," she explained. "Inter-dimensional transmission is tricky so it took awhile. He's doing good by the way, mostly just trying deal with his own problems. I didn't have much to share save for an information packet I just received from Drothan."

Drothan was a batarian they met when they infiltrated Khar'Shan, the batarian homeworld. He was a Shadownet agent, one of the few on the planet. After the operation ended, he decided to come with them, figuring his future on Khar'shan was pretty much scrap after what happened. He was more than a little happy though, he hated the place and Nel didn't blame him, it was a shithole. He relocated to the Citadel and last she heard he was getting a new job at a very specific company.

"He's got something on VykurCorp then?" Nel asked.

"More than a little something," Liara assured grimly. "I might as well tell you now since you're here, I'll go over this in more detail in the briefing. The gist is, he was able to intercept a high level communique from Orukuri. He's apparently requesting some outside help on a project, Eclipse Sisters."

Nel was aware of that mercenary gang. A bunch of Asari crooks who mainly worked out of Illium. They were a branch of the mercenary company, Eclipse, but in general were only Asari. They were vicious according to reports. Anyone in an Eclipse Sisters uniform had killed someone to earn it. Not exactly a friendly bunch, but they were Asari so they were at least consistently super hot.

"Why is Orukuri reaching out to those sexy loonies?" Nel asked. "Doesn't he got enough mercs on his payroll?"

"It must be part of Balak's plans to increase their manpower," Liara surmised. "The Covenant doesn't like humans, so it previously limited their options. The Eclipse Sisters gang is strictly Asari though, they may be trying to cut a deal with them."

That sounded like something Balak would do after all the hurt they put on his forces. He was the Batarian running thing for all intents purposes. This Alliance was chiefly his initiative. Although it was pretty clear the Covenant were the real muscle. Balak was just kidding himself for now, thinking he was in charge because their agreement apparently gave him authority while the Covenant were in this universe. She suspected it wouldn't last, not if Liara kept hitting them this hard.

"So where are they headed?" Nel asked.

"That's the interesting part," Liara informed her. "It's a remote planet, mostly a desert of sorts in a mostly uninhabited system. From what Drothan was able to find, they've been moving a lot of men and material to it for weeks, a lot of heavy duty excavation gear from the looks of it. I think this is one of the dig sites we've been looking for."

One of the things the Covenant had a hard-on for in this dimension was searching for artifacts. Something about their Gods, the Forerunners, coming to this universe. Apparently, if they were to be believed, it was part of their once glorious empire. Since the Covenant believed they were the inheritors of this legacy, they really wanted what the Forerunners had left for them.

Supposedly, it was more than just an interest in history, these artifacts were powerful, dangerous, somehow connected to their war effort. From what they had learned, they had discovered a ship back home that helped them figure where to start looking for this junk. It had likely led them to the Relay Ship, which was proof enough apparently that they were at least right about the Forerunners coming here if the crazy different technology inside it was any indication. They were after something else, something far more dangerous than a big old phone that could call another universe. Liara hadn't known where to find one, until today of course.

"So we're gonna hit this dig site then?" Nel reasoned. "Sweet, what's the plan?"

"The plan is infiltration," Liara replied.

Nel just groaned the instant she finished. She did not want to hear that.

"I hate the I-word," she grumbled. "It's never as much fun."

"I know, but we don't have a choice," Liara told her firmly. "There's more mercs on this planet than we can reasonably handle. VykurCorp Security for one, but Drothan found evidence for both Blood Pack and Batarians being among the garrison watching over the place. With Eclipse Sisters on the way or already there I'm not about to risk a firefight."

"Fine," Nel sighed. "But how do we get in with all those eyes?"

Liara just smiled, a plan apparently already in motion.

"I've acquired a VykurCorp Merc suit for you, Blood Pack Armor for Wrex and an Eclipse Sister suit for myself," she explained. "I've already drawn up Identification Software for each of them as well. They'll see us as one of their own."

"How'd you manage that?" Nel asked.

Liara just smirked and Nel remembered.

" _Right, Shadow Broker,"_ she thought. _"Stupid question."_

Liara's smirk vanished as she got back to business.

"Vik, Kayap and Saya will sick out like sore thumbs," she admitted. "But we can use our disguises to get them past initial security. Saya's cloak should be more than enough to help him stay out of sight and we can cover for Vik and Kayap's routes easily. That is once we have a more detailed idea of where to go."

"What is our target anyway?" Nel asked.

"I'll need more information, but I imagine they have some sort of data hub there they're using to gather intel on the ruins," Liara presumed. "We did the same thing back when I was just an archaeologist, so they probably have a similar protocol. Also, if there are ruins down there, it's likely we can download information directly from anything that's still functioning. We can then bring it back to the ship and have Coda work on it."

Coda was their other defector, a funny looking sack of gas and tentacles called a Huragok that was like a living supercomputer. He mostly stayed below in the engineering department helping to keep the ship running. There was a lot of tech to keep him busy and didn't seem like he needed sleep. If any creature could figure out what those ruins were hiding it was him.

"So we sneak in, scope the situation and grab some data before anyone knows we're there," Nel listed off. "Seems easy enough. Bet there's a catch."

"I always expect a catch at this point," Liara assured. "I'll have a more detailed plan in mind once more intel comes in within the hour. For now though, I'm going to set course for this dig site and prepare a mission briefing. This might just be the thing we need to start our operation against VykurCorp. If they're running this dig, we might get more information on their overarching plans from their data hub if nothing else."

"You really think they'll have something on this whole Separatist plot?" Nel asked hopefully.

"Nothing too concrete, but we might get steered in the right direction," Liara elaborated. "Orukuri seemed particularly interested in the Eclipse Sisters before any other non-human branch of the Eclipse or Blue Suns. I imagine there is a specific reason for that."

Nel just grinned broadly as she spoke.

"Well you got the smartest sexiest brain out there, Doc," she said, trying to lay on the charm. "If you got a hunch, I'm sure it's more than a little accurate."

"Yes, thank you," Liara replied, slightly annoyed by Nel's attempt at flirting. "I appreciate your confidence in my hunches."

"And I appreciate that you let me stare at your ass," Nel added. "Another of your great attributes."

Liara sighed and began walking away while Nel kept leering at her rear end.

"I suggest you get your gear ready," Liara cautioned. "Otherwise you'll be up against the wall in two seconds."

"That sounds more like an invitation," Nel called to her.

"It's not and it will hurt very badly," Liara warned once more.

Nel stopped looking, reluctantly. She'd wear her down eventually. Liara was the consummate professional, but she wasn't made of stone. She was way too hot to be made of stone. She decided to check out her gear before the briefing, while also hoping that VykurCorp armor wasn't total garbage. Maybe if she did well on this mission she'd get her ass leering privileges reinstated. Maybe she'd even let her stare at her boobs too. It was a start. Still, it was going to be hard.

"Infiltration," she snorted. "Hopefully it ain't too boring."

* * *

AN: So, here we have the re-introduction to Liara's Team of Misfits. I split it off into a different story here because, well, last time things got bloated. This way, people can choose which story to follow, or they can follow both and get the complete story of the Wormhole Chronicles. But you don't actually have to READ both to know what's going on. Just know that Liara and Shepard's stories will reference each other here and there, think of it like my own version of the MCU.

This was a short chapter basically reintroducing everyone to the readers AND giving you perspective of one of the principal characters for this chapter of the story. Nelanax Catonis is a bit of a polarizing character for the readers. Some like her, some hate her. Honestly, I thought Vik would be that guy, funny how that works out. However, she's gotten a ton of depth over the course of the story and I felt like, given what this story will cover... it's only fair to continue her development. She'll always be a brash military gun-ho chick with a penchant for adrenaline and a love of sex in general. But there's a lot more going on this time. She's recovering from her addiction and a few other things are going to end up forcing to look deeper inside herself. The same is true of many of the characters of the good ship Lucen. I hope enjoy this little side adventure, and don't worry, you'll get the main story updates in a few weeks.

I think I'll retain my minimal thoughts on these chapters in these author notes here, because I don't have too much to say, especially about this chapter. I feel like seeing how you interpret Nel and the other members of Liara's crew and their actions for yourselves. In the meantime, please review and make sure to keep your eyes open for more updates on this story and others. You'll see them very soon. Thank you all again for your continued support and viewership.


	2. Digging for Trouble

**Chapter Two: Digging for Trouble**

Nel took a good look at herself in her armored disguise. VykurCorp mercs dressed mainly in plain grey and white suits, with the big VC logo emblazoned across their chest. Their visors were also V in shape, because of course they were. Grimacing under her visor, Nel finally let out an audible annoyed groan.

"I look like a total tool," she declared. "Like seriously? This is how they dress their badass PMC soldiers in the company? It's like the very definition of nine to five drudgery. This was why I wanted to be freelance, you don't have to look like a dipshit."

"We're all in the same boat here, Nel," Liara reminded her, placing her Eclipse helmet over her head.

"Easy for you and Wrex to say," Nel told her. "You got to wear the armors with the cool logos and flashy colors. I get business casual for mercenaries."

"Good, you'll stand out even less than any of us," Liara informed her. "It should make things easier for the infiltration."

Nel didn't argue further, standing next to the shuttle long after the briefing made that kind of pointless. It wasn't the kind of mission she wanted, but at least it was something to do. Besides, could be fun lurking around some creepy old ruins of an ancient alien race from another dimension. That was assuming it was Forerunner of course, the batarians could've mistaken it for prothean for all she knew. Either way, at least it could be interesting. Not fun, lack of gunfire and explosions was never fun, but some death traps could be worth a chuckle or two.

"Do you want to go over the mission specs again?" Liara asked her. "Just to be sure."

"This isn't my first op of this kind, ya know," Nel told her. "I mean, I was never dressing up like Seppies or nothing but I did sneak around some enemy camps past midnight now and then."

"I just want to be sure you know where we'll all be," Liara explained. "We have little intel to go on and we'll be walking side by side with the enemy. We need to be careful."

Best not to argue with Liara, Nel reasoned. So she gave her what she wanted.

"We land about a kilometer outside their perimeter," she began to recount. "We head to their security barracks, where a blind-spot in their grid is. By the time we land, the Eclipse Sisters and the new shift of dipshits from Vykur will be filing in. We blend in with their crowd, disperse into the excavation site at large. And I use my particular disguise to get to the designated security checkpoint so Saya, Vik and Kayap can slip by the guards posted there."

"I'll see what I can learn from the Eclipse Sisters in the meantime," Liara continued. "Find out what their part in this is. The main goal though is to get inside the ruins and locate their data hub. That's where we'll find the intel we're after. Whatever we uncover we let the others know through the secure channel Coda has set up for us. We keep in contact, all times."

That moment was when the others arrived, Saya leading while Vik and Kayap lagged a bit behind. The reason became clear when they got closer. Professor Vik'Sajee was in the middle of another lesson to his methane breathing pupil.

"So how come no one finds these hybrids?" Kayap asked curiously.

"Planetary reserves are the perfect place to hide dangerous genetic experiments," Vik explained. "Plus they come under the jurisdiction of the local government, making it easy to police and cover up anything. Missing hikers, mutilations, it all just goes away and they blame it on a natural wild animals."

"Wow, they can use pretty much anything to their advantage, huh?" Kayap asked, sounding amazed.

"That's how the system works," Vik shrugged. "Everything benefits something of theirs in some way."

Nel rolled her eyes about.

"When we say we have to keep in contact with everyone, does that include me and Vik?" She asked. "I mean, I'd like one day not having to deal with another one of his freaky escaped lab experiments he thinks is real because of a blurry video on the extranet."

"Relax," Vik told her. "I've learned it's best to just talk to people who are actually willing to listen. Besides, we'll be in an ancient alien temple of some sort. My mind will be on other things."

"Great," Nel groaned. "He finds out inter-dimensional aliens built a few pyramids and now he's all giddy at poking around them. Conspiracy Nut wet dream down there."

Vik didn't say anything, but he did glare through his visor. Their leader put a stop to things before it could go further.

"Enough you two," Liara glowered at them. "Keep your minds on the mission. This might be the key to VykurCorp and these relics the Covenant are after. We stay on task, got it?"

"Right, right," Nel sighed. "Mission first, I can bust the Bucket's chops later."

Vik just nodded, still glaring slightly at Nel. Liara seemed satisfied enough though by the truce. She moved towards the shuttle.

"Let's get moving then," she declared. "We have a dig site to get to."

* * *

Getting in through the security barracks was easy. The perimeter patrols had a gap in their pattern, long enough for the three of them to slip under a portion of the fence near the backside of the large main building. Already there were a number of Blood Pack, Eclipse Sisters, Swords and VykurCorp mercs walking around. It was easy to disperse among their ranks, they were on break or just being processed after all. Their guard was pretty down.

There wasn't much to the security sector, guards didn't need many amenities. It was mostly just small bunkers to sleep in and maybe one extra building meant for R&R. It probably had a bar, because mercs were different from your standard army, but really it was not a surprising set up. It reminded her of some firebases she had posted in back in the military. Surprising given what they were guarding. You'd kind of would've expected a more complex setup.

She could see that the groups within were a bit off. You could tell the Blood Pack didn't like the VykurCorp guards, given how often they seemed to snarl at each other when they past by. Turians and krogan, they just didn't get along. The Eclipse Sisters were different, everyone gave them a wide berth as they moved through the camp. No one wanted anything to do with them. It fed into their reputation, the Sisters were less mercenaries, more dangerous thugs, senseless killers if you will. Given that even the Blood Pack seemed a bit more wary with them than the Vykur stooges, well, that said something about the Eclipse Sisters for sure.

Maybe living for so long made you fucking crazy, like a God that could do whatever she pleased. Nel, couldn't be sure, she never had encountered Eclipse Sisters, just mainly their other branches. It was hard to imagine Liara somehow fitting in with them, but to the Doc's credit she didn't hesitate to make her move. The instant group of Sisters started passing them, she ducked into their ranks and marched alongside them. Wrex split off next, heading over to what looked to be R&R quarters where the Blood Pack were currently congregating. He'd attach himself to a patrol from there most likely. This left her all alone to make her way towards the excavation site itself. Lucky her, they had snuck in around shift change time, so she just had to follow the fresh squads as they moved out.

Nel could instantly tell they had made some significant progress to say the least. Rising out of the dirt were the tops of large spires, structures long buried for who knew how long. Everything was silver and chrome, although a bit dirty after so many eons. She was no archaeologist like Liara, but she could tell that the architecture was pretty alien, like it just all fit together, snapped into place. Like a puzzle with infinite configurations that somehow conformed into a whole.

There were multiple openings, doorways, tunnels, all leading down into the dark alien structure. They all looked fairly well excavated. They had probably been at this site for weeks, maybe months, given how much they had seemingly dug up so far. Which either meant they knew a lot by now or they were getting nowhere because they were still bothering with this place. Hopefully they'd have more luck once Coda got his tentacles on the data this place held, otherwise this whole trip had been a waste.

She made her way to the outer perimeter of the excavation site, where a security checkpoint was positioned. It was under the watch of a VykurCorp guard, just as they suspected it would be. Before she made her move though she needed to be sure everyone was in place. She subtly contacted Vik on her radio.

"Bucket," she began. "I'm near the checkpoint. Are you and the others in place?"

" _We are,"_ Vik responded. _"Saya has been itching to move for a while now. I think he's annoyed at babysitting us when he thinks he can sneak in by himself easy enough."_

"Yeah well not all of us have invisibility cloaks like he does," Nel scoffed. "Look, I'm going to take care of the guard, you three get in here. There's some crates here you can hide behind just a few feet away, I'll meet back up with you there."

She cut the comm and then made her way to the checkpoint. The guard there was in a matching uniform. He was busy reading an electronic book on a datapad when she approached. He seemed relatively bored and uninterested, with good reason he was staring out into a vast boring hot desert. The male turian's posture and stature also suggested he was young, probably late teens, early twenties, fresh out of his service to the Hierarchy and just trying to make some money now. That meant he probably wouldn't mind talking to a sultry female, time to put on the flirtatious charm, Nel thought, like every other femme fatale in the vids. She walked up to his window and knelt herself over it.

"Hey there," she said as pleasantly as possible. "Whatcha reading?"

"Uh, just some mystery novel," he responded, a bit put off by the female leering at him. "Murder on a cruise shuttle, you know, pretty basic setup of characters."

"Sounds cool," Nel said, pretending to be interested. "So you figure out who did it yet?"

"Well, I'm not sure," he admitted, sounding a bit nervous. "I'm mostly reading because it has some, well, you know."

"I don't think I do," Nel told him, cocking her head and moving her head closer. "What should I know?"

The guard was a bit put off, just how Nel wanted. As he fumbled a few words, trying to explain, he eventually gave up and just made an awkward lewd gesture by pumping his fist sideways. Nel just chuckled warmly.

"Sounds like a page turner," she told him. "Nothing wrong with that. We all have our vices."

"I wouldn't have to do this if they gave me extranet access," the guard grumbled aloud, his frustration suddenly leaking out. "Honestly, the officers in this stupid company get all the perks."

"I hear ya, no one is judging," she assured him, keeping up her sultry tone. "After all, just because I'm a female doesn't mean I have my own needs. Very sensual needs in fact."

The guard returned to a more awkward stance and Nel giggled as he started fidgeting in his seat.

"Uh, look," he tried to squeak out. "I kinda have a job to do here..."

"Oh come on, we're just talking," she told him pleadingly. "You just look so lonely here is all. I know how that feels, I'm lonely too. It's so boring here. How can you guard things effectively when you're so bored? I'd really like someone to talk to is all."

The guard still seemed hesitant, but he also wasn't quick to shoo her away anymore. He relaxed a little, putting the datapad away. He then looked at Nel, who slacked her shoulders a bit to keep him comfortable.

"So when did you get transfered here?" He asked her sheepishly. "I don't really see that many females around the camp."

"Yeah, I'm kinda new," she admitted. "They just brought me here a few days ago. Been staring at weird ruins for like an eternity at this point. I joined up for security jobs in awesome cities, not middle of nowhere."

"Yeah, wish we had more choice on where we could get posted," the guard agreed. "Vykur isn't exactly employee friendly these days. Shuffling us off everywhere. But the pay is good, so you can't really complain."

"Very true," Nel concurred. "I didn't expect to be running some weird ass archaeology dig detail, that just doesn't seem like something the company would do. I need the money though, so you have to do the job they tell you to do. Thing is though, can't spend much of it while I'm stuck here, can I?"

"Well there is the bar," the guard said. "But the Blood Pack has got that place locked down. Bunch of jerks, practically think they run the place. Wish we had a senior commander here like they did."

Senior Commander? That was interesting information. She wondered who it could be, but asking the question might make him suspicious. Should she, as a VykurCorp merc who has been here for a few days know who it is already? Best to pass the info onto Liara or Wrex when she could, they could probably find out on their own.

As she pondered the information, the corner of her eyes spotted a black-clad Saya sneaking up towards the security checkpoint. No doubt Vik and Kayap were close behind, she just had to keep up the distraction. She tried turning up the charm again.

"I wouldn't be too worried about krogan," she said, placing her hand on her chin. "I mean, I'm sure if I had someone to go there with, I'd feel more than safe."

"Um, yeah, I guess you probably would," the guard admitted nervously. "I hear it's a nice place, despite the stupid humpbacks."

Nel kept up her flirtatious behavior, even as she could hear the slight sounds of a group clambering across the roof above. She kept talking abrasively to mask their movements, keeping the guard's attention on her.

"I'm sure someone like you could take a few of them on if they tried anything," she said, circling one of her talons across his chest slightly. "I mean they left you to guard this little checkpoint all by your lonesome. You have to be pretty badass."

"Well, I... um, I don't mean to brag," he laughed nervously. "I've been through my share of scuffs, I guess."

"I bet you have," Nel said seductively. "I'd love to hear about them. War stories always get me a little, as you would say, you know."

The guard seemed a bit flustered and for a second he almost pulled away. Nel looked around quickly, the visor hiding her eyes, and saw that Saya was still helping Kayap down along the other end of the checkpoint. She had to keep guard focused on her.

"I think this is against regulations," the guard mumbled.

Nel did the best she could think of to keep him interested, she took off her helmet and smoothed her talons across her fringe. Batting her eyes at the young man, she brought his attention back to her.

"Lots of things are against regulations," she informed him. "Doesn't mean we have to stick to them. Come on, I'm lonely, you're lonely, can't we be alone together? Don't you want to be alone together?"

The guard physically gulped, her talons fumbling as he tried to think of something to say.

"Well, maybe when I get off my shift later," he suggested. "We could... we could see. It's over after sunset."

"Wonderful," Nel smiled wide. "I'll meet you outside the bar in the security quarters when the light is gone."

She placed a single talon under his chin and lifted his sight to hers.

"And if it all goes well, maybe this planet won't feel so boring," she giggled in his ear.

She pulled away and plopped her helmet back on, leaving the guard mumbling and babbling, trying to think of something to say.

"Better get back to my patrol," Nel told him, flirtatiously wiggling her talons. "See you later."

"Sure, sure, my name is-"

"No, no, no," Nel said waving her finger. "No names, it's funner that way."

She sauntered away, leaving the guard to drop back in his chair, more than a little emotionally drained from the experience. Nel quickly moved back to the crates in the meantime, to find her compatriots crouching behind them. Vik had his usual judgmental face.

"Congrats on your date," the quarian whispered in disdain. "Couldn't think of another idea than that one?"

"It worked," Nel said with a slight snarl in a similar hushed tone. "Don't complain because I got game. Kid was a bored scrawny loser who's only joy is probably a late night under the covers with a closed fist around his junk. Wasn't hard to get the engine running. Sexually aggressive women always put men off, no matter how much you males try and say we should be more like that."

"I'm assuming you're speaking from experience," Vik said rather dryly.

"Oh shut it, you're just jealous I ain't into you," Nel scoffed.

Saya typed up something on his omni-tool and showed it to Nel at this time. It read; "Would have been easier if you just led him outside and let me gut him." She shook her head at it.

"Liara doesn't want that, remember?" She reminded him. "Kill only if we need to, that was the plan. So you had to do a little awkward climbing, it worked out."

"That is surprisingly uncharacteristic of you," Vik told her, sounding suspicious. "I mean, the not killing part anyway."

"I'm just trying to be the best soldier I can be," Nel assured him.

Vik looked at her with a deadpan stare.

"You're trying to impress Liara so she sleeps with you," he stated flatly.

"Whatever, shut up," Nel snapped at him in a hushed tone. "We need to get you into the ruins."

She looked around, up and down the nearby road. She soon spotted what looked to be an equipment truck bounding down the trail. She got a devious look in her eye and looked back to her teammates.

"Got an idea," she said. "When you see the moment, make your move."

"You're not going to flirt again are you?" Vik asked.

"Please, I got more than a few moves," Nel said, slightly insulted by the suggestion. "Just move when that thing stops."

She got in the truck's path and waved it down. The driver came to a slow stop, not looking all to pleased by the sudden interruption. Nel stepped the the side of the hauler, blocking his view for Vik, Saya and Kayap.

"What the hell's the hold up?" The turian driver asked.

"Just a routine inspection," she explained, sounding as authoritative as possible. "We're near a checkpoint, we need to be sure."

"I'm not going through the checkpoint," he argued. "I gotta get this equipment down to a new section of the lower ruins ASAP!"

"Look, I'm just doing my job," she explained. "New orders from corporate, double checks around the perimeter, we need to be sure."

"You're being ridiculous!" The driver said. "Let me go!"

"In a second, sir," Nel insisted. "You're not alone, you're the second hauler I've stopped today."

She did her best to make it look convincing, checking under the vehicle and over around the top. Then checking the open back, where she saw Vik, Saya and Kayap hiding behind a tarp covering the equipment. She gave a subtle thumbs up and returned to the driver.

"Which section you going to?" She asked.

"Eighty Seven B," he grumbled. "Come on, lady! I got a job to do!"

"We all got jobs to do," Nel replied back plainly. "You got an issue with security, talk to corporate. Now, what exactly are you carrying?"

"Seismic, decoding and laser drill equipment," the driver groaned. "You satisfied now?"

"Cargo manifest?" She asked, holding out her hand.

The driver growled loudly and past it to her. She took a brief look at it, nodding her head incessantly.

"Checks out," she said, passing it back to him. "You're good to go. Drive safe. Ruins are a bit crowded."

"Yeah, whatever," the driver grumbled, restarting the hauler.

He continued on his merry way, bringing the others straight into the heart of the operation. Nel smiled, so far things were going good. Better yet, she proved she had the acting chops to Vik. No one could say she only used sex on this job. She was about to continue on her way, when a small squad of Vykur mercs stepped in front of her. Their commander held out his hand suddenly.

"Hold it, what's your unit number?" He asked.

Crap, Nel thought, did she remember the number Liara gave her? She thought for a few extra seconds, it was on the tip of her tongue. Then she got it and quickly answered.

"Zero-Seven-Delta-Niner-Six, sir," she declared saluting. "I'm on traffic detail and-"

"Not anymore," the merc commander said. "We need extra hands for an incoming arrival on the landing pad near central."

Another arrival? What the hell? Liara had only mentioned the Eclipse and they were already here.

"I thought the Sisters had already landed," she said.

"Second transport, off the books," the commander said. "Only just got notified so I'm a little short-handed now. I need bodies, you're it. Get in line, we're moving now."

Nel didn't seem to have much choice. If she resisted, they'd get suspicious. If she tried to weasel out of it she'd have to come up with another stupid story. She really did not have one prepared. Besides, part of her felt this second transport might be important. Maybe more Eclipse? Covies? Swords? Liara would probably want to know.

"Yes, sir," she complied, quickly getting into the squad.

They started marching to the central command center. She probably would've ended up there anyway, but damn it she kind of didn't want to end up in a squad. So long as she kept her cover, things would be fine, but she was now stuck with a pack of snakes ready to jump if she slipped up even once. Shit, she thought, this was the second reason she hated infiltration. Shooting everything from the get go was a lot less complicated than playing spy.

* * *

Liara was incredibly tempted by all that was around her. She had been on many digs in her lifetime, but this was something else. This was a piece of a civilization from another universe, perhaps dating back even further than the protheans. The scant bits of architecture she could see were incredible, angular and regal, laden with silver and chrome. She just wanted to rush within one of the open cavities that led inside the ruins proper and begin investigating. Even as the Shadow Broker, her love of archaeology had not diminished.

But she had other responsibilities at the moment, she'd have to wait. If she tried anything now, even if no one spotted her slinking off, she'd never know what the Eclipse Sisters were doing here. It couldn't just be about extra manpower for a single dig site, it had to be more. She hadn't bothered asking her "fellow sisters" as that would probably out her. She doubted any of them had skipped the briefing.

The Sisters squad marched towards a platform near the center of the excavation area. Even though she was standing closer to the back, she could easily make out what was happening. Standing on the platform, facing the Eclipse Sisters themselves, was Trox. Leader of the Blood Pack, a powerful Krogan Vanguard Warrior. His blood red armor glistened in the burning sun of the desert, his muscles flexing in a show of force. Intimidation, always a favored stance with krogan regardless of where or who they met.

The head of the column, an Asari with dark crimson spots around her eyes that spread out to her scalp-crests, approached him. She didn't seem at all concerned. In fact, she appeared to be fairly calm, chewing on something in her mouth. Liara used the laser microphone in her helmet to zoom in on their conversation and overhear what they were speaking about.

"Varna," Trox greeted. "I trust you have what we agreed upon."

"Eclipse always keeps their word," Varna responded low, angry tone. "How about you?"

"I'll discuss it when I see what you got for us," Trox snorted at her. "Now knock it off with the posturing, we're all friends here."

"We'll see," Varna stated before snapping her fingers.

Varna's fellow sisters brought out a series of large crates that they carried in pairs. They eventually set them down near Trox's feet. He methodically started opening each one and handling the merchandise inside. There were M-662 Avalanches, Arc Projectors, Grenade Launchers and at least one Cain. In another series of crates were several packets, drugs no doubt considering how Trox had a subordinate open one and take a small taste of the contents.

"This stuff isn't going to have any side-effects is it?" He asked Varna. "We don't need the kind of sand that kills you slowly."

"We've perfected this strain from the one before," Varna assured, still sounding annoyed. "That bastard Volus' grift has been long since eradicated. It will enhance your biotics without injury to the user. I will warn you though, prolonged use can still create erratic behavior or slow natural regeneration processes."

"Not my problem, I'm not using it," Trox informed her.

"Ah, I see," Varna said, finally sounding interested for the first time in the discussion. "You're expanding the Blood Pack's biotic ranks then."

"Maybe, but my men aren't using it either," Trox corrected her.

"Then who are you giving it to?" Varna asked with a renewed scowl.

"That's not for you to know," Trox snorted back.

"Like hell it isn't," Varna growled. "I want to know what our product is being used for. When this was just a business arrangement between our branches it wasn't a concern. Now there is an apparent third party. I don't need to be giving Eclipse's enemies an edge."

"You're not," Trox assured her. "They don't care about you. Hell, you might actually be of use to them if they like your product. So stop being paranoid, it's not becoming of your species."

Varna finally backed down, but still scowled at the krogan.

"Fine, where's the payment?" She demanded.

Trox tapped a few buttons on his omni-tool and waved it front of a datapad. A sister approached and he handed it off to her. She then brought it back to Varna.

"It's all there," Trox informed her. "And there's plenty more of it if you keep supplying us."

"Supplying your anonymous friend you mean," Varna said with a mocking tone as she looked at the datapad. "So I guess this means our contract is secured?"

"We'll still have to work out the details," Trox explained. "It depends on what my business partners think of your product. Regardless, you came through for us. You should hear from my chief client shortly, he'll make further arrangements. Probably have another job for you. For now, stay put, keep your squads close. We need the extra hands now that the excavation is expanding into the lower reaches of this complex."

Varna looked off to the side, eyeing the ruins.

"What is this place anyway?" She asked. "Doesn't look Prothean."

"Again, that's on a need to know basis," Trox informed her. "You're not need to know yet. Whether you gain clearance for that or not depends on my employer."

Varna didn't seem happy about that, but she let the subject drop. She turned to her fellow sisters and addressed them.

"Our transaction is complete, get back to the security quarters," she ordered. "We'll get our patrol orders there and split into squads. Move it."

Liara continued to play good little sister for now, waiting to make her move. Her mind was still on Trox and the conversation between him and Varna. The employer could only be Balak and from the sound of things it looked to be pretty obvious he was trying to expand their operation with another player. Why though? Was he trying to even the manpower and resources of the Hegemony-Covenant Alliance? Was it just a way to replenish losses quickly after all the set backs she had caused? More importantly, who was this third party Trox intended to give those weapons and drugs to? Liara had a suspicion it had something to do with VykurCorp's intentions. More specifically, whatever it was Orukuri was planning.

She put the thought out of her mind for now, there was nothing much she could do about it at the moment. She needed to get away from this pack of murderers and into the ruins. As they passed by a series of crates near a small tunnel, Liara made her move. She lagged behind slightly and then ducked away. She waited for a few moments while the column of sisters left her far behind. Then she sneaked into the tunnel and began to descend into the darkened ruins. She then activated her comm-link.

"Vik, Saya, Kayap, do you read?" She began whispering. "Are you inside?"

" _We are, although it was a bit of work,"_ Vik's voice responded. _"We're out of sight for now, some kind of atrium. Hard to see anything down here, they don't have great lighting. I don't think they've bothered with a thorough of this section just yet."_

"Good, then we might be able to get ahead of them," she reasoned. "I'll hone in on your signal, see you in a few."

As serious as this mission was, as critical as it was, Liara couldn't help but smile. She was in her element here, within these dark dank mysterious walls. Despite all the enemies around them, the prospect of exploring this place was too exciting for her.

"Time for the fun part of this mission," she stated to herself.

It was time to see what these "Forerunners" had left for them.

* * *

Nel ended up on the central command building's landing pad, forming something of a precession line. Kind of like what they did in the army when a General or Primarch showed up for inspection. She wondered, who could VykurCorp be welcoming that deserved this kind of fanfare? Orukuri? Balak? Who would be important enough to drag so many mercs off from duty for this? There was an obvious security element involved, but still, it didn't make much sense to line them up like this.

That was when the shuttle arrived, cruising down from the clouds towards the deck. It hovered above the pad for a few short seconds before landing with it's backside turned to the procession group. The hatch opened wide and a group of turians descended from it.

Nel looked at their armor, their outfits, they weren't VykurCorp. No, they weren't emblazoned with lame ass corporate insignias, they had something else. Old colony symbols were painted across their chests, colors of factions long forgotten, specifically of a number of colonies who banded together during the Unification Wars. Who fought against other enemy colonies and the Hierarchy, even when it was clear they were finished. She knew these turians, she heard about them in the Galactic News. They called themselves the Colonial Liberation Coalition, but it was simpler to call them what they actually were, Separatists.

Nel knew that VykurCorp was arming the Seppies, they had discovered as much back when they were on the Batarian Homeworld. She had not expected them to be here of all places, that they'd stumble upon on a meeting between them and VykurCorp directly. Now she knew she made the right call in letting herself get dragged along on this security detail, this was big. They finally knew the face of the Seppies Orukuri was dealing with.

As the Seppies filed out, one of the VykurCorp mercenary officers approached them. He gave a slight salute to what she presumed was the Seppies' leader. It was some old Turian with three white stripes painted below his eyes and down his chin.

"Xeltravius Desaulux, I'm the Principal Commander of this excavation site," the merc officer explained. "I hope you and your entourage did not have much trouble getting here."

"We've gotten adept at avoiding detection," Xeltravius replied. "I trust that you managed to keep this meeting off the books, of course."

"VykurCorp has as much to lose if we're found out here," the officer reminded him. "No one knows what's happening, I assure you. For now, please come with me. Blood Pack Leader Trox wishes to speak to you."

"Blood Pack?" One of the Seppies behind Xeltravius shouted in confusion. "I thought we'd be talking to your boss, not a damn Krogan."

Nel thought she recognized that voice and she looked more carefully to the turian beside Xeltravius. She noted the blue V markings that were stamped across his forehead and through his eyes. Above the eyes, just along the temples, strands of blue split off from the V-shape in both directions, stretching slightly back towards the fringe. It created a sort of misshapen X. His eyes were a darkened brown and along the side of his cheek was a scratch along his facial plates.

She recognized him almost immediately, but she almost couldn't believe it. It took all her willpower not to blurt something out. Her disbelief helped somewhat to silence her as well. It couldn't be him, not him. But Xeltravius confirmed it for her.

"Hanilex, please," he told him placing a hand up. "It's an intermediary, this was expected. The officer is right, they can't risk too much exposure. There has to be plausible deniability. You know this."

"Yes, sir," Hanilex sighed. "I just don't want to deal with krogan."

"We don't either," the Vykur officer exclaimed. "But they're a necessary partner. We just have to live with them for now. This way please."

The officer began leading the Xeltravius and his entourage inside, leaving Nel with the procession. She kept staring in disbelief, specifically at Hanilex. Of all the people from her past she thought she'd bump into again, why him? Why with the Seppies? Hanilex Boudicas, her old squadmate, a traitor to the Hierarchy? She couldn't believe it, but there he was, marching alongside the leader of a Seperatist group. She kept silently mouthing the words "what the fuck" beneath her helmet.

After a while it became evident this wasn't a sick joke, Han was here and on the opposite side of this. At least, that's what it appeared for now. As the security entourage moved to follow the officer, Nel tried to push her way through the ranks a bit so she could get a better look at Hanilex. She didn't get much of a chance before a different officer got in front.

"All teams secure compound," he ordered. "No one in or out, this place is off limits until our guests are gone."

Everyone started moving off the separate sectors. Crap, Nel thought, she needed to stick with Han. Besides the fact that he was meeting with Trox at some point, who was clearly the senior Blood Pack commander the lonely guard had mentioned before, she needed answers of her own. Like why her old friend was suddenly working with a filthy Sep. She managed to circle back from the squad she was in and get back into the main corridor that was Han had gone down. She'd try to catch up with him, hopefully before he got too far.

Suddenly, this infiltration op was no longer as boring as she feared it would be. No, it was worse than boring, it was fast becoming complicated. She hated complicated.

* * *

Within the hallowed excavated walls of the Forerunner installation, Liara trudged silently through the darkness. She had her helmet's nightvision activated, figuring a flashlight would give her away. She doubted any Eclipse Sisters had clearance to be down here. It was best not to advertise her position.

She had to refrain from getting too hung up on the architecture of this place. Everything seemed to draw her eye. It was all so different, so strange. She ran her hands across parts of the wall, feeling the strange symbols and insignias etched into the structure. She had no idea what they meant, but it felt like it was more than just aesthetics. There were also idle consoles or screens, their power partially restored but just barely. They probably hadn't found whatever room was powering this place to turn everything back on, otherwise they wouldn't have needed all these portable spotlights.

She tried once to activate one of the consoles as she passed, but it didn't do much. It flickered for a moment, becoming brighter, before dimming once more. She doubted she'd have found anything of value on these random ancient terminals though, but at least her curiosity was somewhat satisfied. She did her best from that point on to keep focused on the task, for the others were just up ahead.

Liara eventually found the signal where her team's signal was coming from. She took off her helmet as she approached, not wanting to get mistaken for the enemy. As she entered the atrium, the others popped up from behind a small pillar.

"There you are," Vik observed. "Any trouble getting down here?"

"None," she assured. "What's our status?"

"You'd know better than me," Vik told her. "This isn't my field. I'm the computer guy, remember? Near as I can tell though, this place looks a bit like a central hub of sorts. A crossroads to other sections of the ruins, if you will."

"And that big door behind you?" Liara asked pointing.

Vik looked along the path of her finger towards a large vertical-split doorway standing before them. All he could do was shrug.

"I figured something important was behind it," Vik assured. "Looks locked up tight though. Vykur's diggers haven't gotten inside so far as I can see."

"They're probably still working on getting it open," Liara surmised. "Not an easy task given what I've seen. I think the security of this place is still functioning, even on low power."

"Forerunner structures are always hard to break into," Kayap noted aloud. "I always wondered why temples would need so much security."

"I don't think this is a place of worship, Kayap," Liara corrected him. "It may look regal and sacred on first glance, but it feels more rigid and militaristic in another sense."

She looked around their very surroundings to prove her point. There were no clear antechambers or altars, no proper iconography. Everything looked grand and opulent, but at the same time incredibly uninformed. She had spent many a decade inside several prothean temples, places with clear religious significance. This place did not fit that description, it felt more like a complex than anything else. The Covenant probably misconstrued these sites as all holy sacred ground. It colored their vision greatly. Whatever this place was, it wasn't a temple.

"Vik, crack the seal on this door," she ordered. "I want to know what's inside."

"I'm not used to working with ancient electronics, let alone stuff that's from outside our reality," the quarian informed her. "I can give it a try though."

He approached a panel near the door and placed his hand against it. There was a red strobing flash, the panel rejecting his command for whatever reason. He grimaced at the console and tried pressing it again with the same result.

"I don't know what any of this says," he grumbled, before turning towards Kayap. "I don't suppose you know about this stuff?"

"Not really," Kayap replied. "I was never good with Forerunner translations."

"Starting to wish Coda was more inconspicuous," Vik groaned, cracking his knuckles. "Alright, time to give it a go."

Vik activated his Omni-Tool's bypass function, but it was more difficult than it seemed. The alien software was not really compatible with his tools. After a few failed tries to connect, he attempted a manual log in. With no visible port, he pulled open a panel beneath the terminal and connected his omni-tool directly to it through some wires. Now connected to the console proper, he clicked through a number of commands as they appeared on his omni-tool. Nothing seemed to work. Saya leered over him, trying to get a look at what he was doing.

"Lay off," he told the salarian. "This is more difficult than you think."

Vik finally got a hacking program to run, but it was hard deciphering the code and data. He set it to find possible locked parameters so the program could then crack them. It took a few seconds, but eventually the screen turned green. A quiet chime sounded and the door creaked open ever so slightly. Vik pumped his fist in celebration.

"Ha! Eat it creepy ancient wormhole aliens," he said jubilantly.

"Great work, Vik," Liara congratulated. "Let's head inside."

The team squeezed through the tiny opening and into the room beyond. There they found three small spires on each corner of triangular shape across the floor. There were larger holographic consoles between the spires and what looked to be some kind of dormant display over their heads. The walls themselves were covered with weird symbols and insignias, not unlike the halls outside. Unlike those though, these ones were glowing bright blue. There was another dim, blue, glowing light resonating from above them, illuminating the darkened chamber ever so slightly.

"What is this place?" Vik asked, his own curiosity and fascination piqued.

"It seems to be some kind of nerve center," Liara informed him, doing her best to keep composed. "Possibly communications or data filing. These spires are most likely servers, compiling and storing information which they display over head in holographic images. Their layout and design here also seems to denote the importance of the machinery and data itself. The overall look itself almost rakes on a religious aspect as well. We need to find out what was so valuable that they designed this room like they did, like an altar."

"On it," Vik assured.

He got up to one of the consoles, scratching his chin as he did.

"I still don't know what these symbols all mean," admitted. "But I think my experience with the console outside has given me an idea of what to press. Give me a second."

Vik tried a few combinations, the first two were wrong. The third though activated something as the holographic display came to life once heir heads appeared images of what appeared to be ships of some sort along with a number of random starcharts placed beside each. Kayap strained his neck staring at them while Saya's head scanned them methodically. Liara's eyes darted across each image and the small map of stars beside each. While it appeared that a lot of the data was damaged, a pattern soon formed in her mind's eye. Some of the ships were cast in red, others green and many others were blue. Her brow lifted slightly at each of them, wondering about the significance of the colors.

"Can you pull up one of the green ships?" She asked Vik.

Vik searched the console commands for a bit before figuring out which symbols would do that. He still barely knew what he was doing, but one of ship files opened up, display a better view of the system map and the vessel itself. There was also a strange object in corner of the ship's display now. A weird geometric shape of some sort, a sphere or oval, Liara wasn't entirely sure it was not exactly detailed all that great. However, as she had Vik pull up more of the ships files alongside it, she noticed similar objects of varying sizes and shapes. It didn't take her long to piece it together.

"These objects must be the relics the Covenant are after," she reasoned aloud. "These must be the Forerunner ships that brought them over into our universe."

"So why are some of them colored differently?" Vik asked inquisitively.

"I'm not sure, but it might denote the status of the ship and it's contents," Liara surmised. "We need to know for sure what the colors suggest exactly."

Vik looked to the console again and scanned the commands. His eyes then darted between the display and the terminal itself.

"Hold on," he said. "I think there's an attachment to this data. Let me just..."

A few seconds of fiddling and a different starchart opened up in front of the ships, this one more familiar. It was their galaxy and dotted across it were several big green points, detailing a large variety of systems and clusters throughout it.

"What's this all about?" Vik asked.

"Possibly potential sites to bring the relics to," Liara suggested. "I suspected green denoted a suitable location or successful arrival. This potentially proves it. They've highlighted every cluster and system they've deemed as a suitable site to keep the artifacts."

"Those are a lot of dots," Kayap noted aloud. "Way too many actually. There's not nearly as many relic transportships, even fewer that are green."

"Then not all of the relics were recovered," Liara surmised. "And these clusters and systems were only potential candidates for any ships that came through the wormhole."

This last bit of information was the clincher for her. Liara finally understood what this place was.

"We're in some kind of military monitoring outpost," she declared. "It was compiling data about this mass exodus of Forerunner ships carrying sensitive materials to our universe. They wanted to get these relics out of their home dimension and bring them to ours."

"Why?" Kayap asked. "Seems like a lot of work for a bunch of bits and bobs."

"Perhaps they were trying to preserve their culture," Liara suggested, still in deduction mode. "Remember what Shepard said? That they were being wiped out by these parasitic creatures? That they planned to eliminate them with these Halo rings? Perhaps this group of Forerunners knew of the wormhole and were trying to save as much of their culture as they could before everything was destroyed."

"Although, with the way the Covenant spoke about them, it might be something else," Vik warned. "They might have been trying to get a bunch of their most powerful weapons over here. Probably in the hopes of rebuilding their little empire through conquest."

For once, Liara did not fault Vik's paranoia infused logic.

"You may be right," Liara concurred. "Either way, they weren't successful. If the green is a successful transportation, the red and blues could stand for failed or unknown statuses on the other ships and their cargo. Meaning a number of those very relics could be still back in their home dimensions."

More specifically, they were stuck where Shepard was stuck. This was a big find, definitely worth the trouble of coming here. Shepard needed to know about this, fast.

"The data appears corrupted in a lot of places and it doesn't seem to have complete information on the operation in any case," Vik informed Liara gravely. "It tells us what ships got through, but not where they landed or where they dropped their cargo off. It's exceedingly bare bones and this little chart of our galaxy doesn't exactly lower down the search area. We could be looking for these things for years."

"I imagine the Covenant have the same problem and are working to correct it," Liara said, equally as grave. "We need to find out more about this relic exodus of theirs. It's the whole crux of the Covenant's invasion."

She looked to Vik sternly.

"Download everything you can," she ordered. "We need to get it to Coda for further analysis."

Vik nodded and searched for a place to jam a data disk to begin the process. As he did, Liara turned on her comm. They had accomplished one of their objects, finding out what was so important about this place. Now, they just needed to locate the main data hub for the excavation itself. It was their key to the VykurCorp side of this equation. She needed to inform the rest of the team of their progress.

"People, we have something on what these ruins are," she began to speak through the comm. "More specifically, the relics we keep hearing about. Right now though we need to find the data hub, that's our new priority. Anyone got any leads on it?"

" _I might be able to help on that front, Doc,"_ Nel's muffled electronic voice said hesitantly as it filled the room. _"I've currently found myself in a very advantageous position."_

Liara furrowed her brow in confusion. She then asked the obvious question, suspecting she would like the answer all that much.

"Where are you exactly?"

* * *

"Central Command," Nel admitted, rubbing the back of her neck. "I, uh, kinda got forced inside to keep my cover. Before you say anything, it was totally not my fault. Honest!"

Nel kept herself hidden behind a corner. She had lost Han in the corridors awhile ago and hadn't been able to pick up his trail. She was hoping she could locate him again soon, but right it seemed like Liara needed her more. Although she still didn't sound too happy about that.

" _Alright, Nel,"_ she said with a rather disgruntled sigh. _"I suppose you are in a unique position to help."_

"So you're not mad?" Nel asked hopefully.

" _Just find a computer terminal with a layout of this place,"_ Liara insisted. _"We need to know where they've stashed their data hub."_

"Alright, I'm on it," she assured the asari and moved away from the corner.

It took a bit of searching to find a terminal, mostly because she had to look like she was actually just patrolling to avoid suspicion. Nel eventually spotted a door leading into something marked "Systems Monitoring." She had no idea what that meant, but she hoped it would give her what she wanted. she slinked into the room, which thankfully was not locked. She doubted the computer would be that easy. Approaching one of the console at the back of the room behind a set of server towers, Nel hovered her talons over the commands. She froze for a moment, trying to think things through and silently wishing that Coda or Vik were here instead.

She clicked and activated a few applications and programs, searching for anything relevant. Eventually she came upon something called "Data Compiling, Computing and Acquisition Status." It sounded like a mouthful and also very important. Maybe it would tell her where the hub was. When she opened it up though a password lock screen jumped up. She groaned outwardly.

"Hacker crap," she growled. "Fuck."

She didn't have any real options here, she was shit with this junk and she knew it. She cracked skulls after all, not codes. She needed help and instantly called up Liara again.

"Hey guys," she began, worried slightly about their reaction to her plea. "I found this application about Data Compiling and crap. Might lead me to the hub, but it's password protected. I'm gonna need help on this."

Liara's audible sigh over the radio was almost instant.

" _Vik. you're up,"_ she soon added. " _Help her."_

Vik came on the line next and to his credit he wasn't arrogant or prideful about the situation, he was quick to get to the point. First time for everything, Nel thought.

" _What's the setup?"_ He asked succinctly. _"Tell me exactly what is on the screen right now."_

"Password entry screen, three separate input boxes I guess," Nel responded, still a bit agitated over being stuck having to do this at all. "VykurCorp brand Security and Protection software from the looks of it."

" _Any additional instructions? Finding three passwords is too time consuming,"_ he continued to explain. _"There's probably a better option."_

"Uh, it says something at the bottom," she stated, narrowing her focus on the tiny print. "Something about a numeric clearance card for executive access? Like, what? A keycard? I gotta go find a keycard now?"

" _Not exactly, it's more a set of codes on a card that allows for convenient access to the system,"_ Vik explained. _"Keeps the user from needing to remembering every measly exact password for all their stuff. They're usually biometrically locked so no one but the main user can use them. The reading system can be hacked though."_

"Alright, good," Nel said nodding her head anxiously. "How do we do that?"

" _First, you need to connect your omni-tool directly to the system input,"_ Vik explained. _"Then I'll upload a program for you to use to break the code sequencer wide open."_

Nel quickly located a data port. Pulling a wire from her suit, she jammed it into the port and activated the connection. Moments later she got an upload from Vik, a file containing his little program. She opened it up and after a few seconds of auto-installing, it was ready for use. She executed the program and suddenly data, code and numbers flew across her screen.

"Alright, I'm seeing a bunch of techno junk that's making my eyes hurt," she told Vik. "Now what?"

" _Find the command titled as Unlock Protocol,"_ he informed her. _"The hacking tool will crack it, highlight a series of codes and then you just press them in sequence. I'll walk you through it, just describe each to me."_

"And that gets us in?" Nel asked frantically.

" _It fools the system into thinking a card has been placed into the reader, so yes,"_ Vik stated plainly. _"Now just do it!"_

Nel started searching through lines of code, searching for the protocol she was searching for. She gritted her teeth as her eyes raced over every stupid line of code and data. Every now and then she looked away, both to rest her eyes and to see if anyone else was in the room. After about a minute she pretty much fed up being stuck doing this.

"I hate hacker crap," she muttered aloud.

She scrolled down again and just managed to spot the words "Unlock Protocol" in the middle of a line of code. She frantically pressed at it on the touch screen. Seconds later, the screen changed again and several new lines of code raced across it. One was a large batch highlighted yellow, the other a small couple of lines in green and another with a large space between the data in green. She quickly described their looks to Vik who responded just as expediently.

" _Red, Yellow, Green, in that order,"_ he said.

She followed the instructions, pressing and activating the codes. On the main screen of the terminal, the password box vanished and was replaced with a ton of informations on the facility. She quickly checked through it and found what they needed, the hub. She could read it's status as well as see it on a small monitor in the corner of the window.

"I got it," she reported. "Their data hub is located in a lower chamber beneath the command center. Looks like they broke into the ruins from above and just attached it directly to one of the old alien consoles. Probably speeds up the data collecting, whatever. I'm sending you directions to it, you have a straight shot through the ruins from the looks of it."

As she sent the intelligence though, she heard voices coming towards the door. She logged off the terminal and rushed into a hiding place behind a server tower. As soon as she got in cover, the doors opened wide, revealing that same Vykur officer, the Seppie Leader Xeltravius and, most important to Nel, Hanilex.

"This detour is unnecessary," the officer explained. "We're more than prepared to provide you with all the information required."

"I think we'd prefer it handed to us directly," Hanilex informed the guard.

The officer just sighed. He walked over to a terminal, stuck an OSD in a port and logged on. A few short seconds later he pulled the OSD out and handed it to the Seppies. Xeltravius quickly pocketed it.

"That should be everything concerning the weapons and the list of improvements," the officer explained. "As well as your special item, of course. Now, can we please go to the meeting."

"Fine, we've wasted enough time with this tour anyway," Xeltravius declared.

The trio left the room and Nel slowly followed after them. This time she'd be sure not to lose them. Liara would handle the hub from here, she didn't need her for that. She had to figure out what this meeting was. Of course, she knew that was just her excuse. This was a hell of a lot more personal now, there was no denying that.

* * *

They made their way through the ruins, careful to avoid the scant few patrols moving through the ancient inwards of the structure. Liara forced herself to ignore her old archeaologist urges, her thoughts focused on the data hub ahead and not the tunnels she wished she could explore further. They eventually stopped just short of the entrance, crouching behind some boxes filled with excavation equipment just out of the guards' line of sight. They could see pretty plainly two VykurCorp guards posted outside the door.

"We need to deal with them," Liara stated. "Saya, you're up."

The salarian barely nodded before he activated his cloak and vanished. Seconds later he made his move, his blade slicing into the side of the guard. He put the turian into a choke hold to keep him from screaming too loudly. The struggled alerted his compatriot beside him, but too late to do anything. Saya pulled the sword out and chucked it like a spear into the turian's head. The VykurCorp guard fell dead to the floor, while Saya continued to strangle the other. He kicked out the back of suffocating one's knee, forcing him to the floor. He then jumped up and kicked the turian in the head to put him down for good.

With the guards down, Liara moved up with Vik and Kayap, just as Saya was pulling his sword out of the second guard's head. He also reached down to pull something else off the turian, a keycard of some sort.

"Must be for the door," Vik reasoned, taking it from Saya. "Doesn't look like it's biometrically locked, so we're in luck."

"Careful, there might be more inside," Liara cautioned before Vik swiped the card. "Line up and get ready."

The team did as told and Vik carefully slid the keycard through the reader. The doors opened up wide, revealing the inner sanctum where the data hub resided. There were only two other guards within, surprised to see the entrance way was now ajar. Carefully, one of them pointed his weapon at the open space.

"Hello?" He asked. "Who's there?"

Liara's answer was wordless. Threw a stasis attack at the guard, freezing him in place. Saya quickly rushed in next, cutting the second down with a quick slash across the throat. Liara finished the one in stasis off by hitting in the face with a biotic punch just as the field dissipated. He would not be getting up from that. Vik and Kayap entered after her and the quarian wasted no time getting to work on the data hub. He activated his omni-tool and began bypassing the safeguards.

"Good to be back on a machine with a language that isn't dead and from another dimension," he said happily as he worked. "Also good to see VykurCorp security is still a joke. My virus has already terminated all passcodes for the system. We're in."

"What do we have?" Liara asked hopefully.

"A lot of their own research on this ruin from the look of it," Vik replied, still feverishly working. "Seems like they came to the same conclusions you did on this place, although it seems they took a hell of a lot longer to figure it out. They have a list of other sites, they're cross referencing the information, trying to speed the work along. Latest updates say, they're trying to narrow down any data concerning the Hanar controlled systems within the files of the ruins."

Liara only wondered why for a few seconds, when she remembered what they had overheard while on Khar'Shan. The Covenant believed that the relics were located on Kahje, the Hanar Homeworld. Supposedly the secret was in a temple on the planet, but no one knew which one because Kahje was full of them. The strange thing about that was, as far as Liara knew, there were only prothean temples on Kahje. The hanar were a bit zealous in their devotion, but they wouldn't mistake Forerunner ruins for prothean structures. She could see for herself there were just way too many differences architectural and construction wise.

"They must be trying to find evidence of the Forerunners journeying into Hanar Space," Liara suggested. "If they really think the secret they're after is somewhere on Kahje, any intel on their systems in these ruins might provide the clue they need to locate it."

"You think the relics might be there?" Kayap asked curiously.

"It's possible, but it's just as likely it's not that simple," Liara cautioned. "The Forerunners obviously put a lot of time, manpower and effort into getting these relics to our universe. They also seemed very determined to keep them hidden. I doubt they'd just put them all in one place or leave the information to finding them out in the open. It's more likely we'll find some kind of clue there, better yet a map if we're lucky."

"Let's just hope we find it first then," Vik said, his eyes still on his work. "Anyone who puts this much time into hiding something isn't doing it for laughs. If the Covenant are after them, I'll bet they're weapons of some kind. Speaking of, I've just got into the main VykurCorp servers, seems there's more here than just data on these ruins. Give me a second."

Vik kept looking for a bit, typing on commands furiously. Then he stopped, his eyes growing wide.

"Oh keelah, this does not look good," he said, nervousness growing in his voice.

"What is it?" Liara asked.

"A data packet was recently transferred here," he began gravely. "It relates to a series of reports concerning a special project of theirs. It's not much, but it's highlighting cellular decay and spread. Two guess what that could mean?"

"Biological weapons," Liara reasoned, her face turning to a scowl.

Back when this all started, when they first picked up Saya, they were told that the Covenant had attacked and raided a salarian medical lab. They weren't sure what the purpose of the attack was, but awhile later they discovered it on Khar'Shan. The Covenant had stolen a biological weapon of some kind, one VykurCorp and Orukuri were feverishly working on. Combined with the knowledge he was supplying the Separatists for some reason, it was a rather foreboding prospect. They didn't know much beyond that, only that whatever it was about it wasn't good.

"How do the reports read, exactly?" Liara asked, her voice filled with renewed concern.

"Favorable," Vik shrugged. "I'm just skimming it right now, but it doesn't look sound like they're disappointed.

"Anything else?" Liara questioned.

"Lists of weapons orders, transfers, storage," the quarian replied plainly. "Since they used this data hub to cross reference with the other dig teams across he galaxy, I pretty much have a direct line into the VykurCorp network. Problem is, we don't have time to sort through it all, especially when some of it is layered in encryption. They're going to notice something is up. Their security may be a joke, but it won't take them long to figure out someone has gained this level of access. It will take them awhile to stop it electronically, but, well, we're on site so..."

Yes, Liara thought, they didn't have time to go over everything. They needed to move.

"Start uploading everything you can to the _Lucen_ as fast as possible," she ordered. "Bioweapons and any other information concerning the ruins is top priority. We need get out of here with as much data as we can. We'll head up through the hole they blew through the roof of this place into their command center, link up with Nel and Wrex, and then we get off this planet."

"I'm guessing stealth is over then?" Vik asked, nervously chuckling. "Nel is going to be happy about that."

* * *

Nel pressed herself against the corner of the doorframe and peered slightly inside. She could see Xeltravius, Hanilex, the VykurCorp officer all standing around a large table. Laid out across the surface were several boxes, all of them Nel recognized as the ones the Sisters had passed off to the Blood Pack. At the table's head was Trox, standing proud with arms crossed in a commanding position. Back when she was working on his payroll, Trox always seemed to relish lording his authority over her. She had guessed it had to do with her being a turian. Apparently she hadn't been far off the mark.

"You need to start appreciating the effort we go through for you," he told the Seppies. "Making idle threats and demands is unbecoming. You're getting what you need and progress is steady. That's all you need to know."

"Things are reaching a critical point," Hanilex declared. "Our men are tired of waiting and we can't hold back for much longer. Now, we're getting handed off to a bunch of krogan as contacts. Can you see why we feel pushed around?"

Trox just sighed a long annoyed grunt.

"Look, I don't like having to be around you turians either," he explained scowling. "The only species that smells worse than you are salarians. Thing is, bitching to me about your problems is pointless. Mainly because I don't really care about them, I'm just the intermediary. You know? So our mutual benefactor doesn't end up caught in the crossfire if things go south? And for the record, I get you Seppies are Xenophobes, but you're not the only ones who have a beef with the Hierarchy. They sterilized my people, as you recall. So, yeah, I'd kinda like to see someone screw them up myself. That is ultimately the plan here, I may not care if it works, but I'd like to see it get off the ground myself anyway. Overall, you want to complain? Fine, but you're wasting your breath on me. Voice your concerns to the real head of this operation or shut up and deal."

"Fine, krogan," Xeltravius snorted in frustration. "Just give us what we came here for."

Trox opened one of the boxes and tossed out a packet at the Seppies. Hanilex caught it easily, opened it and took a sniff. Then he nodded his head at Xeltravius who responded in kind.

"It seems you did come through after all," he told Trox.

"Remember that for next time," the krogan informed him. "The weapons are in there as well. We already have other shipments en route, the special ordinance if you will. It will be arriving at your bases shortly."

"About those weapons, are you ever going to explain more about these aliens you're working with?" Hanilex asked. "Who are they?"

"Do you really care?" Trox asked incredulously. "The guns work don't they? Isn't that all that matters?"

"I'd just prefer if we knew where they're getting working plasma-based weapons," Hanilex elaborated as he hunched over the table. "You guys raiding the Geth or something?"

"If we decide to give you more information about our allies, we will tell you," Trox answered unwaveringly. "Right now, just be glad you're getting these advanced weapons at all."

As Trox spoke, his omni-tool communicator started beeping. Growling he answered it.

"What do you want? I'm in the middle of something," he grumbled at it.

"Sir," another krogan's voice answered. "Some of the technicians have just reported some kind of systems breech in the data hub."

"What?!" Trox screamed at the omni-tool

"We don't think it's remote, probably local," the krogan continued. "Some of the boys and are moving out with a VykurCorp team to the hub room, we're going to see what's causing it."

"Don't move anywhere without me," Trox ordered loudly. "If this is a breech I have a good idea who it is and we can't afford half measures if it is. Wait for me, that is an order!"

Trox began to move for the door, but he wouldn't get far. Nel wasn't about to let him link up with his men if she could help it. She moved into view of the doorway, her rifle up and fired into the krogan's kneecap. Trox didn't have his kinetic barriers up so he crumpled to the floor, clutching his leg. Nel then shifted her aim to the turians, her gun mostly leveled on Hanilex.

"What the hell is this?" The VykurCorp officer demanded.

"It's pretty fucking obvious idiot," Nel told him, turning the gun to his head. "Drop your guns, all of you! Right now! Or this whole fucking rooms gets a new coat of paint!"

The officer and the Seppies did so, but Hanilex eyed her curiously.

"That voice," he said suspiciously. "That sounds-"

"Familiar?" Nel laughed. "Nice to see you remember something, traitor. Was wondering if you forgot me along with your duty."

Nel ripped off her helmet and tossed it to the ground, her eyes glaring at Hanilex in a rage.

"Nel?" He said, his face one of shock and slight dismay. "What are you-?"

"For the love of the void!" Trox shouted from the floor. "Of all the fucking stupid turians I had to deal with, why the fuck are you here?"

Nel fired again at Trox, hitting him in the arm.

"Be thankful you're alive, dipshit," she told the krogan. "You're my team's ticket out of here once I prop you up like a meat shield. Now excuse me, I'm trying to have a talk with my former squadmate."

She glared back over at Hanilex, who's initial shock had waned somewhat.

"This is not exactly how I pictured a reunion, Nel," he said rather plainly.

"Fuck you," Nel snarled at him. "To think I felt sorry about you getting kicked out of the program. The whole squad felt like shit about it, we liked you! I always kept wondering where you were going to go. Then I find you with a fucking Seppie leader! A fucking terrorist!"

"One man's terrorist is another-"

Nel turned her gun on Xeltravius, switching to inferno rounds as she did.

"Fucker, speak another word and your tongue is gonna get lit the fuck up!" She shouted at him. "You know how fucking bullshit that line is? Seriously? I know what you shitters do, blowing up civies and attacking our allies. Now everyone quit interrupting me and Han here so we can air all this shit out!"

Hanilex chuckled slightly.

"Still have a curse word fetish, huh?" He asked.

"You don't get to fucking laugh, jackass," Nel growled. "Start explaining, why? Why Han? Separatist? Of all the turians out there, I never thought you'd turn. You of all people. Why? Just tell me why and I'll consider just leaving you wounded and not dead."

Hanilex just sighed sadly before looking up with conviction.

"The thing is Nel, you never really knew me."

"Bullshit, don't you tell me you were some fucking spy or something," Nel snarled, her gun practically aiming between his eyes.

"No, that's not what I meant," he elaborated. "Let me explain it again. You never knew me."

Before she could react, Nel saw Han's hand move and, to her utter amazement, blue light shone from it. The resonance shot out and struck her in the chest, flinging her back out the door and into the hallway. Her back slammed against a corner wall, the pain was terrible, but she gritted her teeth and bared it. She reached to her side to go for a smoke grenade, make a retreat, she she saw Han's pistol pointing at her in the face from across the way. He barely even flinched a muscle as he glared at her, there was just a cold glint in his eyes.

"Since when are you a biotic?" She asked, still astonished.

"Always have been," he replied. "I told you. You never knew the real me."

"Don't talk! Fucking shoot her you idiot!" Trox's voice shouted from the meeting room.

Han turned slightly to shout back at him. The momentary distraction was all Nel needed. She leapt up, punched him square in the jaw and watched the bastard fall to the ground hard.

"I know you can't take a good haymaker, that's good enough," she stated.

She grabbed her gun, but then heard a bullet whiz past her from the side. She turned to see Blood Pack mercs rushing her. No time to deal with Han, she needed to leave. She dropped the smoke grenade and let it spew out a cloud to blanket her escape. She took off running, charging down the corridor like a bullet away from the onrushing Blood Pack. Trox was probably already healed from that bullet wound to the knee too and she didn't want to face two biotics.

She still couldn't get over that, Han was a biotic. That should've been impossible. He wasn't from a Cabal unit, he was tested as normal. How the hell did he fool the scans and blood tests and all that other shit that they did to figure out what you were or weren't? Her mind raced with possibilities. Swapped samples? Urine from another donor? Paid off doctor who looked the other way when they took a peek at his brain pan? She'd have asked, but she really didn't have the time. Also the fact her head was reeling, her heart was racing and her blood was boiling told her a number of other things. Mainly things she really did not want to think about.

Her emotional state got the better of her though as she wasn't thinking as clearly as she should. When she turned a corner she found herself staring at a VykurCorp guard, his gun leveled at her. She was hoping her shields would hold long enough to get to cover, when some jumped out from an open doorway beside the guard and sliced his jugular open. The clad in black figure was of course Saya, sword in hand.

"Ninja frog," she shouted with glee. "Am I glad to see your silent but deadly ass!"

As he flicked the blood off his blade, a second guard came rushing up the crossway corridor behind them. He was trying to get his helmet off as something blue and hot was stuck to it. It exploded before he could manage. A third guard was gunned down by several submachine gun bullets and fell into their line of sight. Moments later, Liara, Kayap and Vik walked over the dead turian's body. Liara gave a small smile to Nel as she spotted her.

"Infiltration is over," the asari informed her. "You're off the leash. You happy?"

"Ecstatic, ma'am," Nel grinned widely.

"Good, because there's probably a ton of Blood Pack between us and the landing pad," Liara informed her. "Let's move!"

They started making their way to the landing pad, alarms already going off all around them. As loud as they were though, Nel could still hear the boots of krogan and turian alike rushing all around them. Her species and the krogan weren't quietest of species after all.

"Where is Wrex?" Nel asked. "We could use a little badass krogan warlord-in-chief action right now!"

"He'll meet up with us, don't worry," Liara assured. "Keep your eyes peeled for- back!"

Liara stopped the team just as they were about to round the corner. A barrage of bullets flew straight in front of them. They'd have been mulch if Liara hadn't spotted the turret position out of the corner of her eye. They weren't really there to kill them though, they were obviously there to slow them down so other squads behind them could catch up and finish them off. They needed to deal with the turret and fast. She turned to Kayap to do just that.

"Think you can hit that turret barricade with the grenade launcher?" She asked.

"Think so," the little alien declared, pulling the heavy weapon off his back and letting it unfurl in his arms. "Just give me cover."

Liara nodded and waved Nel up to her position.

"Lay fire across the turret," she explained. "We need to keep them from firing at Kay."

"Easy, let's do it!" Nel said excitedly.

Moving out slightly past the corner, Nel and Liara opened fire on the turret, pelting it with bullets. As the gunner ducked down to avoid getting shot, so did those around him. The momentary lapse in their fire was the opportunity Kayap needed to rush out into the open and take aim with his grenade launcher. He fired a small barrage of grenades that arched through the air and crashed down on the barricade. Explosions ripped through the enemy, the turret exploded in a burst of fire the gunner tumbling out into the open.

Kayap was already moving to the opposite end of the crossway at this point and the others were about to follow, when gunfire opened up from behind. Blood Pack mercs behind them, charging up as krogan were want to do. The team fired back briefly, but kept moving regardless. They did not want their pursuers to catch up. Saya was already on losing them. He slashed his sword against the walls from top to bottom and then started running after the rest of the team. To the rampaging krogan approaching them, it just seemed like a stupid gesture of posturing. Nel knew better, the salarian had just set a trap. The second the krogan approached the slash marks along the walls, they exploded. Nel didn't look back to see the damage, but she suspected at least one of them had lost a leg. Saya's explosive gel did not fool around.

"Have I mentioned how much I love that the sword can make things explode?" Nel said aloud grinning.

"You practically do every time it happens," Vik reminded her.

"Still isn't any less cool," Nel informed him.

They neared the corridor that would lead them to the landing pad, almost home free. Or they would have been, if when they rounded the corner they didn't see a squad of five Blood Pack mercs staring at them, plus Trox at their head. He was already resonating with biotic energy and he looked angry.

"You are very lucky that Balak is interested in taking you alive, T'Soni," he growled. "Right now, a credit bonus is all that's keeping your head intact."

"How the hell did you get here before us?" Nel asked confused.

"Shortcuts, and you I'm killing slowly," Trox shouted. "Balak doesn't give a shit about what happens to you. We just need the asari."

"That isn't happening, Trox," Liara stated, her own biotics resonating across her arms. "We're leaving, right through you if necessary."

Trox just laughed at the bravado.

"Please, I got five men with claymores lined up to fill you full lead," he declared. "You're pretty much screwed, so knock off the biotics. You asari might think you're good with those, but I got more raw power in my middle toe than you got in your whole body."

Liara just smirked.

"Actually, you only have four men," she explained.

"Four? I thought you were smart, T'Soni," Trox said confused. "You seriously can't cou- wait a second."

It sunk in too late that Wrex wasn't with Liara. That Liara and Nel were dressed in Eclipse and VykurCorp armor respectively. And when he looked back to see the rest of his own squad, he could see one of them stepping slightly back, with a blue resonance around him and his arms already raised.

"Surprise!" Wrex declared.

At the same time, both Liara and Wrex let loose a shockwave and throw attack. The attacks collided on Trox, detonating and throwing the entire Blood Pack squad to the ground or against the walls. In the middle of the carnage, Wrex rushed up to Liara, pulling off his Blood Pack helmet.

"That was a lot more fun than it should've been," he chuckled. "I think I like playing spy."

"I'm just glad you found a detail working security," Liara told him. "Now come on, let's get to the pad."

"Forget it," he told her. "They got the rest of the Pack and Vykur mercs swarming the place. We're not getting the shuttle on or off that pad. We need a better landing spot."

Liara gave it a moment's thought and came up with an idea.

"There's a platform in the middle of the surface ruins," she recalled. "If we can get there we might just be able to make it."

As they were talking, gunfire erupted from up ahead where the pad was. Blood Pack were rushing inside. No time to deal with their fallen comrades and Trox, they needed to run. Falling back as the bullets flew at them, Wrex tried to cover their retreat.

"There's a door down this hall that will lead us straight outside," he said pointing. "Let's move!"

The squad took off, leaving the broken and battered Blood Pack strewn about the floor around them. One of them was still alive and conscious though, Trox. As he sat up, battered and bruised, he activated his comm-link.

"Varna," he said, coughing in pain. "We got a situation. Time for you and your sisters to earn their paycheck."

* * *

Heading out into the surface ruins, Nel fired her gun into the air several times. The workers scattered, running for cover as the squad raced through the uncovered bits of the ancient Forerunner structure that had thus far being unearthed. They made their way down into a pit, Liara at their head as they ran. She pointed towards a large platform above them in the middle of the excavation site.

"There's our extraction point," she told the others. "I'm calling in the shuttle now. The pilot should be there in minutes!"

Bullets whizzed over the asari's head as she finished speaking. She quickly ducked into cover behind a partially buried spire. The others found cover behind similar bits of architecture or crates full of dirt and supplies. Getting a better look at who was shooting at them, they could plainly see a mixture of VykurCorp Security Forces and Eclipse Sisters swarming the excavation pit.

"Let's hope they're very quick minutes," Nel said reloading her rifle.

"Try focusing on the biotics first," Wrex suggested. "Eclipse Sisters like hitting hard and fast."

Saya was already on it, grabbing the sniper rifle off his back and taking shots at the Eclipse Sisters as they raced through the ruins. The asari mercs kept lobbing biotic attacks their way, despite the return fire. Only their cover kept Liara's team safe. Saya did manage to score a hit though, as one Sisters tried to fling a singularity towards them. He managed to catch her in the chest with a well placed round, taking her out.

Nel also tried to take out the biotics, her assault rifle raking over their cover. She managed to get a concussive shot to connect to one of them, bringing her kinetic barriers down. As she stumbled back, her biotic attack foiled, Nel unloaded a burst of rounds into the Eclipse merc and watched her fall to the ground.

Vik and Kayap focused on the closer threat in the meantime, the VykurCorp mercs. The little unggoy took a few shots at one of the Corpies as he tried to make a run for their flank. His first shot took out the turian's leg and his second hit him through the head as he fell. Vik used his tech abilities more than his shotgun, sabotaging one of the Vykur guard's guns. When the turian tried to fire, the gun blew up in his face and he collapsed into the dirt.

That kill gave Liara her opening and she rushed forward. She slid into cover, getting right on the flank of two other turians. She blasted away with her submachine gun while sending out a throw attack that sent them hurtling away. She then ducked her head down as burst of fire hit the crate she was behind, an Eclipse Sister had zeroed in on her. A few seconds later, Liara boosted her kinetic barrier and stood up, she took careful aim at her attack and fired straight between her eyes. As the merc dropped, Liara turned to her squad.

"Move!" She ordered.

The team obeyed, pushing up with her as she made a run for the platform. She raced through the pit, sending throw attacks one way, singularities another, pulling and pushing enemies out of their hiding spots. One Eclipse Sister stood up, firing one her barriers. She nearly got through them, but Wrex ran in like a freight train, smashing the side of her rib-cage with his thick skull. He then stood back up and fired a carnage shot into another group of Eclipse, shouting a Krogan war cry.

Liara's charge managed to cut a path to a dirt ramp leading out of the pit. As she rushed up it, an Eclipse Sister and Vykur guard jumped down into her path to block her. Liara paid them no mind, putting them in stasis as she ran. Frozen in the mass effect field, waited long enough to send a throw attack at them next. The field detonated, blowing the two mercenaries off the ramp. She continued to ascend, listening to Nel and Wrex spray fire down into the pit below as they ran up behind her.

They eventually reached the platform, where Liara had been only a short hour or so prior. They scrambled atop the flat top, scanning the area for hostiles. No one was holding the area though, they probably didn't think they'd try to escape this way. Well, now that they were here they'd probably guess what was going on. Everyone took up positions quickly and hoped the shuttle was closing in.

Moments after they arrived, Blood Pack mercs from central command and everyone else left on security detail began to move towards their position. Nel laid down fire from her assault rifle while Saya used his sniper rifle to take them out from afar. With the flood of enemies though, it was unlikely they had enough bullets for all of them. Luckily, Liara heard the shuttle's engines on approach in the distance, they just needed more time for it to reach them. She turned to Wrex, who noted the look on her face and nodded.

"We just need another minute," she said, her arm glowing with power.

"Don't think about it, just do it!" Wrex shouted back, his body powering up as well.

They both unleashed a powerful biotic wave and hurtled towards either end of the platform. It struck the nearest groups of enemies, tossing them backwards and into the air. They crashed down upon their comrades or down into the excavation pit itself.

As they fell, the shuttle started to close in on the platform. It's side opened wide and a Shadownet Merc on a turret began firing like mad into the Security Forces closing in. The shuttle itself lowered to the ground, everyone scrambled inside. Nel was the last to get on and she looked back, rifle in hand to help cover their escape, she noticed someone in the crowd of bad guys.

Hanilex, a bit bruised but unmistakably him. He pointed his weapon up at their engines and unleashed a barrage. Nel aimed at his head with her rifle her finger on the trigger. Then she hesitated, her teeth gritting as she stared at her former friend through the sights. With a sudden groan of agitation, she changed her point of aim and fired at the ground near him. Hanilex fell back, trying to avoid the gun shots as Nel made him dance. The shuttle took off into the sky, the doors closing shut, leaving the ruins, the planet and Han far behind. The vessel then rocketed back to home, the _Lucen._

"It didn't go quite so smoothly," Liara admitted. "But we got what we came for."

"And a little more," Vik assured. "Coda is going to be immensely interested in the data we have for him."

Liara looked over to Nel, slumped over in her corner of the shuttle, sulking. Not normal for her, at all. Usually by this time she'd be shouting something about how awesome they were or trying to play up her achievements. Instead, she just looked pissed off. That, and the fact Nel had somehow ended up in the Command Center during the mission, piqued her curiosity. Not that she was upset that Nel had gone a little off script, it had paid off for once. However, she could sense something was bothering her.

"Nel," she said, clearly voicing concern. "Is something wrong?"

The turian looked at her for a moment and sighed.

"I'm not in the best of moods right now," she explained. A few more seconds passed before she decided to come clean. It was information they needed to know after all. "I found out which Seppies Orukuri is working with."

"How?" Wrex asked, his own curiosity engaged.

"They were there," she explained, her voice still above a growl. "There was a meet between them and Trox. They're one of the worst of the groups, the Colonial Liberation Coalition, or CLC for short."

"I've heard of them," Vik said, now seemingly sharing in Nel's disgusted feeling. "Bunch of backwoods boshtets who think anything that doesn't have a fringe is lower on the evolutionary ladder. They also think civilians are just collateral damage, so long as it makes a spectacle of course. I thought they got scorched from orbit years ago though."

"Looks like they crawled back up from the hole we dug for them," Nel snorted. "Orukuri is giving them weapons and drugs and all kinds of neat shit to boost their arsenal."

"So that's why the Eclipse are being brought in," Liara reasoned quickly. "They're helping Orukuri keep the supply chain to the Separatists moving. Plus they have the market on biotic enhancing narcotics cornered. And given what we also found, they're obviously part of whatever plans Orukuri has with this bioweapon."

Nel just shrugged, not seemingly all that concerned with this information. Something else was bothering her and, at the risk of prying to much, Liara wanted to know what it was.

"Did you find out something else?" She asked her.

"Oh nothing," Nel said rather sarcastically. "Just that someone I knew from my time in the War Spirit's Blood program has turned fucking traitor. Also, he's a fucking biotic apparently!"

That got everyone really confused, with their brows turned up as they looked at each other. Vik was the first to voice their befuddlement.

"How's that possible?" He asked. "How can anyone hide they're a biotic from the Hierarchy? They run so many tests, all just so they can know who is who."

"Don't ask me," Nel said, angrily laughing at the question. "Point is he did it."

"Who is he?" Liara asked.

Nel stared Liara dead in the face, the anger slightly giving way to grief.

"His name is Hanilex Boudicas," she answered firmly. "And he was... he was my best friend in the program. I thought I knew him."

She looked off to the side forlornly.

"Turns out, I never did."

* * *

AN: So quite a bit in this chapter, I bet you got a few questions. Mainly, who is this Hanilex character, who are these Seppies and, more importantly, how could Nel not know Han was a biotic? Well, that's part of the mystery element of this story, so I can't answer that. Just be aware that there's more to this stuff then you might think. So I can't really say much without giving away spoilers, but I hope you enjoyed this chapter regardless. It was a little inspired by the scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark, no snake pit or fight near a weird looking plane though. Expect a few more Indiana Jones-type homages before this story is through. After all, we got some relics to find.

Feel free to ask me any questions in your reviews or message me. And do please review, don't feel shy, I appreciate your feedback, so long as it's substantial. I always like reading what you guys have to say, especially when it's a lot more detailed than a single word or small sentence. Also, I'd like to think a number of my readers are creatives in their own right, probably in fields that aren't exclusive to writing. In this regard, if you ever have wondered if I'd be okay with you drawing my characters or doing something with them, like how Hellfox has done with his excellent audio performances, do not hesitate to write me about your intentions and talk to me about them. I'm not going to like give permission for you to write with my OCs of course, but if you want to draw them or something, feel free. I'd personally love to see some artwork of Nelanax out there, especially now since, as you can tell, she features pretty heavily into this story.

So again, please review and if you are an artist with a desire to draw some of the heroes of these stories, do not hesitate to ask me about it. I'm more than open to seeing my characters given faces by the readers who have grown to love them. Next chapter will be a surprising one, just you wait and see.


	3. Ghost of the Machines

**Chapter Three: Ghost of the Machines**

Coda's many tendrils were already hooked up to the main console, it's body resonating with soft blue light. His snake like head squirmed around the screen as various bit of information displayed themselves for him. Standing to the side of him was Liara along with the rest of the team. She didn't normally allow them into her room unannounced, but she figured this was a special occasion. Whatever Coda uncovered, she wanted everyone to more less be informed about right away. Better than just briefing them later. Besides, there were a few things they needed to discuss.

"He's been at it for hours," Wrex noted. "How long does this usually take?"

"Decryption isn't easy, even for Huragok," Kayap insisted. "They're the real experts on the Forerunners, not me, but usually there's teams of them working on cracking data from any ruins uncovered. We only have one. He's doing the best he can though, he just needs time."

"Fair enough, but this is kinda boring," Wrex explained. "I was expecting to get a few revelations by now, like the old days. After a mission we usually just got back aboard, Liara did her mind trick thing and we got the full story."

"We were working with the Protheans that time, Wrex," Liara reminded him. "They were a known quantity, specifically to me. The Forerunners? I barely know anything about them. They were able to hide pieces of their advanced civilization in our galaxy for who knows how long and I never came across any of their installations. No one has. We have no frame of reference, we're essentially working from scratch."

"Well what did Shepard have to say?" Wrex asked her.

As soon as they got back, Liara had sent another message to Shepard concerning what they had found. It was profoundly disturbing to him to say the least. The idea of relics of a powerful ancient race like the Forerunners in their galaxy was bad enough, but Shepard now had to be concerned with some that could still be back where he was currently stuck. Worse yet, they had no idea where they needed to look. Correction, they had an idea, they just had no clue which of them were dead ends or wastes of time. Right now, Coda was the only chance of getting some idea of where to start looking.

"Basically the same thing," Liara answered Wrex. "Tali might know a little about the Forerunners, but she isn't an expert. He has no idea what kind of relics we're dealing with, but he's keenly aware of their potential damage. Remember, he found a ring world capable of destroying all life within a galaxy."

"I'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact that aliens from another dimension established makeshift colonies here," Vik stated. "I mean, there were always theories of the invaders from the Andromeda galaxy infiltrating us and abducting people. This is a whole other level though. The Conspiracy Forums on the extranet would freak if I told them about this. Assuming I'd even be believed by any of them."

"Yeah, something must be seriously fucked up if the crazies worried about secret puppet masters and false flags can't buy this crap," Nel chuckled coldly. "Guess there's only so much insane shit one can take, huh?"

Liara looked at Nel with some concern, she hadn't stopped sulking since they got back to the _Lucen_. She didn't really blame her too much, finding out a friend of yours had turned traitor was one thing. Finding out on top of that fact that he had been lying to you about who he was did not help things. She went over to her corner and took a seat in a chair nearby. It was time to really talk about this.

"We need to know more about Hanilex," she began. "Who exactly was he? When you were in the War Spirit's Blood program, I mean."

"He was driven, determined, badass, like me," she listed off. "Came from some wealthy family, but didn't let his rich upbringing keep him from getting dirty. He wanted to serve bad and he put his ass on the line for all of us. He was a damn fine soldier, one of the best."

She spoke with sincere reverence, almost pride. It made Liara think more about their exact relationship.

"Were you ever... intimate?" She asked rather bluntly.

"Oh fuck no," Nel said shaking her head. "I respected him too much. Never once made the moves on him or flirted. We were friends, partners, squad mates, that shit was important to me. Didn't want to ruin it by jumping in the bunk with him.

"Wait a second," Vik interjected. "You mean to tell us that, despite your massive libido, he was your exception?"

"I am not a horny teenager, Bucket," Nel said, glaring at him. "I know when to turn it off and on. Han was the one person in that squad I never considered having sex with specifically because of who he was. He encouraged me, kept me going in the program. He believed in me, in the mission, even when my father kept doubting me. That's something you don't mess up by fucking their brains out. You respect that bond, you don't sully it. That shit is too important to a soldier."

Nel turned her head down and exhaled deeply.

"At least, I thought it was important to him," she said mournfully. "Then today happened."

"If he was so damn good, how did he get kicked out?" Wrex asked.

Nel shrugged a little, her expression as unsure as ever.

"He wasn't without his problems," she relented. "He was very opinionated. Talked back too much. Hierarchy military is very strict about command structure, that's not news. Han never really seemed to respect it. He kept mouthing off, he kept questioning missions and their goals, he also kept demanding to be put in charge of the squad. He thought he earned it, deserved it even. Like it would've been a proper reward for his accomplishments, I guess."

"You were rather mouthy as I recall," Liara reminded her. "You disobeyed orders, you were a loose cannon, you were reckless, at least that's what your file said."

"Yeah, but I never told a squad leader to his face that he was a piece of krogan shit," Nel elaborated. "Nor did I claim out loud that our missions were always fucked up and poorly planned. And I certainly never got into a heated argument to the head of the program over being overlooked for promotion. Hell, no one does, ever. Han is the only turian I know who got pissed off for not being advanced. I just went off mission script and made some off color jokes. Han always kept looking for a fight with the brass, even when there wasn't much of a reason, like he had something to prove. Knowing what I do now, I think I have an idea what that was."

If Hanilex was a biotic, one that had somehow evaded detection from the Hierarchy military's medical examinations, then he probably did feel he had a lot to prove. Liara knew as well as anyone how segregated the turian military was. If you were a biotic, you could not serve with the regular army. You were placed in a Cabal, biotic soldier units. You did not fight alongside the regular military, unless given special authorization, which was rare. Cabals had their own missions, usually assigned to sabotage, raids or other black ops tasks.

Technically that should've given them prestige, but things were more complicated than that. Cabals were just the Hierarchy's way of shuffling biotics off on tasks they felt were beneath real soldiers. Biotics in turian society had always been viewed with suspicion, considering they had mostly been used for similar sabotage operations during the Unifications Wars. The Cabals got the majority of the dirty work because no one really trusted them. Hanilex had probably been trying to prove a biotic could serve with the regular military. If not to others, than at the very least to himself maybe.

This was all really speculation though, no one could really tell what was going on in Hanilex's head at the moment. Nel didn't seem too keen on guessing herself.

"Was he ever addicted to the juice like you were?" Liara asked.

"Actually, now that I think about it, he rarely used the stuff," Nel recalled, a bit of sadness in her throat. "That was another thing the brass got pissed off at, that he wasn't giving them sufficient data on the effects of the drugs. They used that and his insubordination to kick him out. This was way before my, well you know, incident. A couple of months at the least. They stuffed him with a gag order and discharged him, basically overnight. I didn't even get the chance to say goodbye."

"Does he know how to make the juice?" Liara asked at last, it was the major question on her mind.

When Nel shook her head, lifiting a weight off the asari's mind.

"He didn't have access to my father's specs on the drug," she explained. "Not like me. I doubt he knows much about it. Sounds like he's trying to recreate the program for biotics though, specifically the Separatist ones. If he's asking Trox for help in bringing in the Eclipse Sisters' special brand of red sand, then it's obvious what he's trying to emulate."

Minagen X3 had only come into the Sister's possession by accident, as far as Liara knew anyway. If they were trying to perfect it though, that meant they were manufacturing the stuff wholesale, working out the fatal bugs. A lot more initiative than she'd expect of the Sisters, probably this Varna's idea, or perhaps even pushed on her by Trox.

"You have any idea why he's working for the Separatists now?" Wrex asked.

"Dissatisfaction with his treatment? Sympathetic all along? Maybe he just likes blowing up hospitals and shit?" Nel listed off, her anger growing as she did. "Who the fuck cares why? The fucker is a traitor. Working with one of the most radical of the possible cells out there. Orukuri is arming him for something big. He's gotta go down."

"Well we may have to deal with him soon enough," Liara informed her. "Can I count on you to be able to handle yourself if it comes that? We just got you into a fairly stable emotional state, I don't need something else clouding your judgment."

Nel rubbed her hands together, her face slightly unsure. Not a good sign for Liara, not at all. She understood a bit about the hesitation. She had to go up against a loved one herself back in the day. It was hard, hurtful. That wound was still fresh over two years on. So she knew what this was like. She needed to know if Nel could handle this.

"I'm going to try," she finally said. "At the very least so I can get a few answers. I'd really like to know how he avoided being detected as a biotic for one. You know, just so that shit ain't bugging me every night."

"Again, in due time," Liara assured her. "Right now, we best focus on matters we can actually address. We don't know exactly where Han or this CLC movement he's joined are right now. We need to find out more about them before we can move on them."

"Who exactly are they, anyway?" Kayap asked. "Why are they attacking their own people?"

Nel turned her gaze to the unggoy and readily answered his query.

"The Colonial Liberation Coalition has this idea in their heads," she began to explain heatedly. "That the Hierarchy totally cheated the colonies out of independence. That they've sold out the turian race to other species. They hate the Council, humanity, basically everyone who isn't turian or is aligned with the government. Their leader, Xeltravius, is some old mother fucker who can't admit his side lost the Unification Wars, keeps claiming it was about personal freedom or some shit like that. Neglecting the fact it was just one big fucking excuse to settle petty scores with other colonies and throw shit into chaos. They go around killing people they don't like a lot. All in the hopes they can stir up enough anarchy and start a brand new war. One where all the colonies gang up on the home systems of the Hierarchy and take them out. Presumably so they can get back to murdering each other in peace afterwards."

"Old causes die hard," Wrex concurred. "I know that better than most krogan. Apparently my species isn't the only one with grudges."

"A grudge is putting it mildly," Nel corrected him. "Personally, I'd describe the Seppies more like home schooled numbskulls who had parents that couldn't stop bitching. Then they grew up and decided to take mom and dad's frustrations out on everyone else, usually with bombs."

Liara knew how dangerous and radical many Turian Separatist organizations could be. There were a few that were more peaceful, to an extent. Antagonizing peace officers, causing riots and graffiti on government buildings were small time compared to killing public officials, blowing up buildings or attacking any aliens living among turians. Whatever legitimate grievances they had, they lost the justification when they resorted to the killing of innocent bystanders. Then again, the standard military procedure among Turians was that they had a tricky concept concerning civilian casualties themselves. The difference was they never outright looked to kill non-combatants.

"Han never looked like he had a grudge against the Hierarchy though," Nel explained. "Like I said, he came from a well-off family. He doesn't seem like the kind of guy to turn traitor like this."

"Regardless of his reasons, maybe this is the break we need," Vik suggested. "We have direct evidence of VykurCorp working with Separatist and criminal elements. We should send the information to the Hierarchy and have them bring them down."

"We have nothing concrete," Liara reminded him. "Orukuri is being more careful with his dealings after the summit it seems. He's not handling things as directly anymore. Even if they launch an investigation, we don't know how big this conspiracy runs throughout the company. Someone else might just take his place if he gets arrested. If we take him down, we have to be sure to take every conspirator with him. Otherwise they'll go to ground and keep helping Balak and the Covenant in secret."

Vik reluctantly nodded, seeing Liara's point. She figured he would, being the conspiracy buff he was.

"I suppose it's better to get all our evidence together before we make a case," he relented. "It's not going to be easy though. Corporate boshtets like Orukuri are good at covering their tracks. It's not like we're just going to find his diary where he confesses all his sins."

"Would make this easier though," Nel noted, a small smile returning to her face. "Also funny, he probably has an account of every time a girl dumped him for being a lousy lay."

Liara rolled her eyes, but not in any derisive manner. She was getting a little used to Nel's crass humor.

"In the meantime, it's best we keep pursuing the bioweapon lead," Liara suggested, bringing the conversation back to the task at hand. "It's our best chance at figuring out Orukuri's plan and stopping it before it gets underway."

It was then that Coda suddenly cooed at them, calling them over to the screen. It apparently had found something of interest. Everyone got up from their respective seats and tried to get a look for themselves. What they saw was the cross reference map from before, containing all the data from the ruins they had previously seen. The difference was, a few of the systems clusters had been highlighted. Even better, Coda brought up the systems themselves which pinpointed specific planets within each of them. The Huragok trilled pleasantly as he showed them the information. Kayap saw fit to translate.

"He says he cracked the encryption," the unggoy explained happily. "He doesn't have the location of any relics, but he has located several key installations the Forerunners were using. Any one of them could show us more about what the Forerunners were doing here."

"Well it narrows things down at least," Wrex observed. "But that's still quite a few systems to look over."

"I can send Shadownet Teams to some of the sites, recon them first," Liara suggested. "With any luck Balak's excavation teams are still searching for these sites. It could allow us to get ahead of them."

Coda trilled a series of sounds in response to the asari.

"He says he's going to keep working," Kayap translated. "Try and find out more about the sites themselves. The data is degraded and heavily encrypted though, so it might take time."

"Nevertheless, good work, Coda," Liara told the Huragok, rubbing the creature's snake-like head. "We'll put this to good use."

Coda didn't have a mouth that could grin, but he seemed happy. His mood suddenly changed though and his gaze turned back to the screen. His bioluminescent body resonated once more as he began opening a series of windows.

"What's he doing now?" Nel asked.

Coda trilled frantically in reply and Kayap did his best to translate.

"He's getting some kind of encoded message on the ship's communication lines," he explained. "He's trying to decipher it."

"Origin?" Liara asked commandingly, concern growing in her tone.

"Unknown," the unggoy admitted. "He's trying to figure that out now."

Eventually, Coda managed to decipher the message and place it on screen for them all. It was mostly text, but it came with an attached image file, a schematic of what appeared to be a Covenant ship, as well as coordinates and a flight path. Not knowing what to make of it, Liara scanned the words in the text file carefully.

"Detected you in the network," she began to read aloud. "Enemy of captors. Please, help. Held captive aboard vessel detailed. Transporting weapons and supplies to enemies. Cannot say more. Transmissions monitored. Please, free us."

As she finished, Liara turned back to towards the squad, who were all equally suspicious and concerned.

"Okay, obvious trap," Vik stated firmly. "So obviously a trap."

Saya just shrugged in silent agreement.

"It does seem like something Balak would try to pull, playing on our good nature," Wrex concurred.

"Yeah, it does smell like that," Nel admitted as well. "But, we do know the Covies are bringing more weapons for the Seppies to use. I heard it myself."

Liara recalled as such from the debriefing. The CLC obviously had plenty of Covenant guns already. Could they really afford to let them get more? This could be the chance they needed to cut off a vital supply line to the Separatists and slow Orukuri's plans somewhat. Then again, like everyone was saying, it could be a trap. After all, it did seem a bit convenient.

"What kind of ship is that?" Liara asked Kayap.

"Looks like a Corvette," the unggoy replied as he scanned the image file. "They're usually used as support vessels and sometimes ferry supplies and troops between assault groups. If they wanted to keep a low profile, it's as good a ship as any. Not that big, but certainly could hold a lot of guns."

Liara gave it some thought. On one hand, quite possibly a trap. On the other, if this was true they could possibly sever a line of supply. Finally, she came to an idea.

"If we suspect a trap, we can prepare for it," she surmised, looking back to Kayap. "Coda can probably crack their transmissions, right? Maybe even their security?"

"If someone can get him in, sure," the unggoy replied. "It's child's play after that to a Huragok."

"Well that's my department," Vik reasoned, not sounding thrilled at the idea, but at least not confrontational. "If you're going to spring a trap, you might as well know what you're walking into, right?"

Liara nodded in agreement.

"This is what we'll do," she said. "We'll head to the intercept coordinates, but remain out of sight with stealth on. We hack into the security from afar, figure out what's going on inside. Then if things look okay, we get in, find out who sent this message, and see if they're telling the truth about these supplies. It's a risk, I know, but if it can help slow down Orukuri's plans and give us more time to research these Forerunners relics, I'm all for it."

"No arguments here, Doc," Nel assured her, pounding her fist into her palm. "I need to work out some aggression anyway."

"Should be fun for my krogan either way," Wrex suggested. "I'll let them know we got a mission for them. They've been itching for a scrap."

Good, Liara thought, because if this was a trap they were walking into, they'd need a lot of muscle to get themselves out of it.

* * *

They had arrived in the system within hours. According to the information their mystery friend had sent, they wouldn't have to wait around for very long for the ship to show up. Liara kept their vessel out of relative sight, using the rings of a nearby gas giant to supplement their own stealth systems and better hide the ship. She kept long range scans running as they floated in the void for next hour or so. She expected one of two things, that the Corvette would show up or a small fleet of Covenant vessels would. If it was the latter, they'd know it was a trap and bolt out of the system. If there was only one, well, that wouldn't mean it wasn't a trap, but it would prompt them to investigate further.

Liara, standing on the command deck, kept her eyes on the scanner read outs. They still hadn't detected anything, but she wanted to be prepared to act at a moment's notice. As she waited, Wrex stepped up beside her.

"Don't your eyes ever start to hurt?" He asked her.

"I've been doing this for a while," she explained, lifting up a datapad next to her. "Analyzation comes almost naturally at this point. In fact, it's not even the only thing I'm monitoring. I'm having Glyph keep an eye on those recon teams we're sending to those potential Forerunner sites. And this datapad is set to update me on Shadownet's latest raids on VykurCorp installations, specifically those under Orukuri's management."

Glyph was Liara's VI assistant. While aboard the _Lucen_ with her, Liara mostly confined him to her quarters. She hadn't gotten him to stop referring to her as the Shadow Broker and didn't want to risk him blurting something out. She mostly kept him busy by monitoring the other aspects of the organization, which there were many. That gave her time to focus on her main objective, that being stopping the Covenant and their allies.

"Well it sounds like we're going to have a wide range of missions to choose from at this rate," Wrex noted. "At least Nelanax won't be bored, more importantly my men won't be."

"If this Corvette does show up we'll need them to secure the ship," Liara informed him. "The six of us alone won't be enough to overrun a ship of that size, even if it is small by comparison to other Covenant vessels."

"So is it going to show up?" Wrex asked suspiciously. "I mean, it still seems a bit odd we get a random call for help out of the blue with very specific instructions. Even if this doesn't turn out to be a trap like it probably is, it just feels wrong to me."

"Careful, you're almost sounding like Vik," Liara playfully warned.

"No, when I start claiming that turian pop music brainwashes you into complacency, then I'll sound like Vik," he responded with a light chuckle. "Right now, I'm just voicing caution on this."

Liara agreed with being cautious, but she didn't want to make assumptions on anything until they had more information. Until they discovered the source of the distress call, said source was neither a threat or ally. Everything more or less depended on whether or not a Corvette showed up in front of them anyway. That was when scanners' alarm went off, warning of an anomaly entering the system. Apparently, they were about to get part of the answer to their questions.

She turned to the long range scanner and an image appeared in the hologram. Speeding out of the dark void, from what appeared to be some kind of rip in the fabric of space/time, appeared the Covenant Corvette. Right on time. Liara had heard about this from both Shepard and Kayap. This was the Covenant's mode of interstellar travel, slipspace jumps. It was like lightspeed, but they ruptured reality itself, traveling into a sub-dimension and using it to traverse the galaxy. Impressive technology, something Tali was still drooling over if Shepard's reports were accurate, but Liara was more focused on the ship itself for the moment.

"That thing looks about the size of a small cruiser," Wrex noted. "Going to be something of a chore to take."

"Most likely," Liara concurred. "But I've been studying the schematics our mysterious imprisoned friend sent. It is not impenetrable."

Liara looked at the oblong ship with it's outer and inner hull frame. She then had the holographic image close in on a part of the upper dorsal section of the ship. There was a flat surface there, currently unoccupied.

"That is a dorsal landing pad, it's used for additional fighter escort," Liara explained. "If we land there we can covertly enter through this airlock and then sneak down to the lower reaches of the ship to their main central hangar. From there, we can pretty much get to every part of the ship. A perfect spot to launch the real crux of our attack."

Wrex nodded in compliance.

"You get my people an opening, they fly in and we take the ship piece by piece," he grinned proudly. "Of course, it won't be easy getting there. Are the sensors picking up anything about the crew?"

Liara did a quick check and brought up some favorable information.

"Seems to be operating with a bare minimum complement," she observed. "Very few life signs that we can detect with our systems. I also can't seem to find where their prisoner is. He could be shielded, maybe they found him out and killed him, or, worst case scenario, this is still a trap."

"Well either way, if we're going to head in there we need to move now," Wrex told her. "Who knows how long it will be before they jump again."

Liara nodded and contacted the others over the intercom.

"We're a go people," she informed them. "Kayap, have Coda start cracking the security so we have a clean point of entry. Then meet me and the others down in the launch bay. It's time to find out what we're dealing with here."

* * *

Inside the cramped shuttle, Nel did some final checks on her gun. Liara had instructed everyone keep suppressors on until the krogan got inside. A little annoying, Nel liked making some noise, but she decided it would only be for half of the mission and she could handle that. Even Wrex had a suppressor on his assault rifle. If a krogan was cool with being quiet for a bit, she probably could handle it herself. She took a quick look out the window as they approached their target, the Corvette growing close and closer.

"You sure they don't see us?" Nel asked.

"Between this shuttle's stealth drive and Coda blocking us from their scanners we should be fine," Liara assured. "So long as no one looks out a window we'll be okay."

Nel turned back to the group at large, reasonably satisfied with the answer. Mostly because if things went wrong and they did get spotted no one could blame her. Of course, not everyone was as easy going about this.

"We still have no idea who sent this message," Vik reminded them all. "They could have already seen us and are just letting us land so they can ambush us at the point of entry."

"I share your concerns, Vik," Liara said calmly. "But we need to be reasonably suspicious about what we're walking into. Paranoia is not going to get us far."

"I'm just hoping Coda can keep their communications blocked long enough for the krogan to do their thing," the quarian explained. "I really don't want to end up on that ship and, in the middle of everything, find ourselves totally surrounded by more of them so they can they blast us to smithereens."

Kayap looked a bit nervous about that, but meekly offered his own suggestion.

"Maybe another unggoy sent the message," he suggested hopefully. "Maybe he wants to defect like me."

"We can hope," Liara told him. "But we shouldn't make assumptions either way for the moment. Right now, our concern is confirming that this ship is transporting weapons to the Turian Separatists. If so, we find out where they were going. It's our best bet at finding a lead to them."

Nel looked out the window and noticed they were practically in spitting distance of the ship. She reached down, grabbed her helmet and slammed it on her head. When the seal activated she stood up, gripping the side of the ship.

"Trap, not a trap," she said aloofly, "fuck it either way. We head in and kill everything not friendly as quietly as possible. Simple enough for me."

The shuttle touched down and everyone else sealed their suits. The doors opened wide letting the small squad set foot on the dorsal landing pad. Saya was out first beside Nel, where they briefly looked about the area, making sure it was secure. When it was, Saya motioned for the team to head for the airlock. They rushed up to the door and Vik began his work on the lock.

"Coda is doing good so far," the quarian said as he connected his omni-tool to the door's systems. "He's lowered security for our entry point. They won't even know it's being opened, let alone hacked. have I mentioned how much I love that we added him to the team?"

"Quite a bit," Nel joked. "It's making me think you're into tentacles."

"Ha ha, very funny" Vik sarcastically laughed. "I just like knowing I'm not the only hacker on the ship anymore."

"Whatever you say, Bucket," Nel chuckled. "Just let me know when the wedding is."

Vik just grimaced and kept working. Eventually the doors opened wide as the airlock decompressed. Everyone quickly moved inside, their weapons up and at the ready. After another minute or so of waiting for the airlock to reinitialize, everyone moved inside the Corvette proper. Despite Vik's concerns, there was no ambush waiting for them at the door. Their insertion was either completely unnoticed, or they weren't ready to spring the trap.

"We're good so far," Liara said. "Keep in formation and follow me. I used the schematics to map out the shortest route between us and the hangar."

The team followed her down the darkened corridor, anticipating danger around every bend as they did.

* * *

The insides of this ship were not what Saya had been expecting. It wasn't so much layout as it was the design. It felt more ornate and less formal. It was almost like the Forerunner ruins, but altered. Given the highly religious connotations of Covenant culture, it probably shouldn't have come at a surprise that their ships looked a bit like a temple. It was certainly a sign their fanaticism ran particularly deep.

His analysis of the decor was but a byproduct, however, of his search for enemy patrols. He kept close to Liara as he did this, prepared to warn her of any nearby hostiles. There wasn't much to pick up though. This understaffed Corvette had few Covenant in their general vicinity. Normally that would be ideal, but the lack of security kept him on edge. If this Corvette did have weapons on board, why were there so few guards? He supposed their forces were stretched a bit thin or their leaders had decided this covert operation did not require a large crew. The Covenant had shown they were rather overconfident in their abilities. They probably didn't expect anyone to find out about this. It still seemed like they were too few patrols though.

Not that there weren't any, as Liara stopped just short of running past one such group. Crouching near a bend, the rest of the squad behind her, the asari took a look out into the open and then looked back, holding up three fingers.

"Sangheili," she whispered. "Headed up our route towards us."

Saya just nodded, she didn't need to ask him for anything at this point. This part of the mission required stealth and that was his wheelhouse. He activated his cloak and slunk out into the open. He raced towards the sangheili walking towards them. Gracefully, he slipped behind them and then pulled his sword. He charged at their back, blade raised high before jumping slightly into the air. Then, as he closed in, he slashed across the first one's spine.

As the alien fell and Saya cloak disengaged, the two other Covenant turned. Saya quickly slashed the throat of the one to the right before kicking him in the torso. He then drove the sword into the third sangheili's stomach, punching the eight-foot alien in the throat so he couldn't cry out. The big Covie lashed out at him, but Saya pulled his blade out and backed away before he got hit. He then slashed the sword downward onto the sangheili's skull and let him drop.

Flicking he blood off his sword and sheathing it, he looked back down the corridor and motioned for the team to move up. The squad soon joined him among the dead bodies and quickly set about dragging them into cover. Once that was done they started moving again, following Liara's set path to the hangar.

They didn't get very far before they were forced to stop again. They crouched behind cover as they found themselves staring a large locked door in the middle of some kind of atrium. It was guarded by at least six sangheili, all heavily armed, more so than the patrols. They had these longer rifles, not their usual plasma weapons to be sure.

"Carbines," Kayap whispered aloud. "Nasty weapons. Probably guarding something real important."

The sangheili themselves were moving around the area in a two by two pattern, while two others remained guarding the door itself. They had a good range of vision, as Wrex was keen to point out.

"They're in pretty tight formation," Wrex cautioned. "Even with Saya's cloak, he'll be spotted the second he makes a move by someone else."

Saya didn't like agreeing with Wrex on most things, especially concerning his abilities as an STG operative. He could not deny the facts though, he was not going to be able to take out everyone here without being seen. Eventually, someone was going to notice the patrol timing was off when they didn't see their buddies on the next sweep. They needed another strategy.

"This is our only way to the hangar," Liara reminded them. "We need to get through. Besides, I want to know what's behind that door."

"We need to pretty much take everyone out at practically the same time then," Nel reasoned. "Otherwise any one of them might raise the alarm."

It was a rare moment of sense from Nel, as far as Saya was concerned. The turian was near addicted overt combat, so it was interesting to see her not outright suggesting breaking cover and shooting everything. Perhaps she was learning, or being off her juice for so long had tempered her bloodlust. Either way, so long as she didn't act like a moron, he was fine with this new outlook.

"We should deal with the ones standing watch first," Liara surmised. "Preferably when the patrols aren't in their line of sight. That way, we can move in and take down the others before they realize anything is wrong."

"Not sure if my rifle has enough shield piercing power to get a clean headshot from here," Nel warned. "The suppressor isn't going to help with that either."

"Then we need another method," Liara said, rubbing her chin slightly. "Perhaps we can lure them away from our line of sight somehow."

"I got an idea," Vik spoke up, activating his omni-tool.

Within moments, a small combat drone materialized in the middle of their huddle. It was way tinier than your average drone. They weren't exactly frightening to begin with and now Vik had made one that was basically near rodent size. Obviously it was not suited to taking out eight foot aliens. Nel chuckled lightly at the little bluish-green ball of light.

"Aw, he's adorable," she teased. "He gonna zap the mean sangheili's ankles off?"

"For your information, he's a sabotage unit," Vik grumbled at her. "I've been tinkering with him for a while. Now's as good as anytime to test him out. I can control him remotely from here and send him through the internal wiring of the ship here."

Vik pointed to a small duct in the wall just beside their hiding spot.

"I find some wires or pipes or whatever, I make it zap a few of them, it causes some commotion," he continued adamantly. "Maybe enough to draw one of them away from the others."

"It's worth a try," said Liara with a light shrug. "According to my map there's a secondary hallway just off to the side. See if you can get one of the sangheili to go there, Vik. Wrex, you get into position, wait for my go."

The krogan warlord just nodded and began to double to get into the secondary corridor. It was quite fascinating to Saya how seemingly synchronized Liara and Wrex could be at times. He supposed that was owed in some part to their history, being on Commander Shepard's original crew during the Geth Crisis over two years prior. Despite his misgivings on Krogan, he couldn't deny that Wrex worked well with Liara. It was that mutual respect between them that was responsible for quite a bit of this squad's successes so far.

Wrex himself wasn't that bad, especially for his species. A lot of people at STG were concerned about his rise to power on Tuchanka , the krogan homeworld. It wasn't exactly known what he'd try to do going forward. How much like his brother, the predictably brutish and vile Wreav, was he? After working so long with him, Saya had concluded that the two shared little in common besides a birth mother. Wrex had saved his life on more than a few occasions during their escapades. He doubted Wreav would've done the same. At the very least, he felt as if Wrex was someone he could work with, if not respect in due time. That would hopefully make his bosses back at command sleep a little easier.

As Wrex crept away, Vik let his little drone buddy head into the inner workings of the ship. Everyone turned their attention to the quarian's omni-tool as he had it travel up through the mess of wires and electronics within the walls. It all sparked with electricity and resonated with energy. It was fascinating perspective to be sure, especially for one person in the group it seemed. Despite the visor, Saya could easily see the quarian's eyes were wide with amazement.

"This is some incredible looking technology," he state aloud. "Very advanced that's for sure. It might explain why they're able to make their ships so big without the same problems we run into. You know, weight, core temperature, cost and what not."

"Focus, Vik," Liara said firmly. "Find us something to break."

"Well take your pick," Vik told her. "It all seems pretty important."

"Just find something glowey," Nel suggested. "That's usually important in vid games."

Vik rolled his eyes but kept the drone moving, tracking it's position within the walls on the screen. Within a minute, he had positioned it above the secondary corridor. The drone looked around for potential sweet spots and eventually settled on what looked to be wiring connection box. Much to Vik's chagrin, it was somewhat glowing. Ignoring the smug satisfied look Nel's face was no doubt showing, Vik had the drone blast the little assemblage of wires. Then he turned the drone's attention to a small cable that looked relatively important. He blasted that with an electrical pulse as well, causing the cable to rupture. A moment later there was a small explosion.

Vik moved the drone over to a grate in the ceiling and saw the effects of his little sabotage run. Several lights had gone dark and there was a consistent blast of steam venting from walls. Saya looked over their cover and noticed that the sangheili were aware of the damage, pointing off into the corridor itself. They had their attention. Liara egged Vik on, tapping his arm lightly. The quarian obeyed and started killing more lights, slicing more wires and blasting anything that looked valuable.

"I'm trying my best to make this look like a power surge," Vik explained. "That might make them try to shut the section's power down."

The continued damage eventually forced one of the sangheili near the locked door to move up and check out what was going on. Again, Vik moved the drone over to a grate so they could get a look at what was happening. The sangheili guard, now firmly out of the sight of his compatriots, was looking around the area trying to figure out what was going on. Eventually he sauntered over to a control terminal and began inputing some commands. That was when Wrex struck, charging out from the shadows to slam the sangheili's head into the console he was working on.

The scuffle was short, relatively quiet, but the thump caught the attention of the second Covie by the door. He positioned his body away from the main hallway, looking down the secondary corridor. His back was now turned to the still hidden squad of infiltrators.

Good enough for Saya, that worked for his purposes. He activated his cloak and rushed at the lone guard. When he was close, he lashed out with a single powerful stab straight into the back. He grasped his forearm around the alien's neck to keep him from crying out as it died. Saya could do little else as he pushed the body into the edge of the doorframe, propping it up slightly so as to hide the corpse from the still active patrols.

The others worked fast, moving up to Saya's position. Nel and Kayap took the right side of the atrium, the turian's assault rifle at the ready. The patrol on their end had their backs turned, they wouldn't see Nel coming. With Kayap covering her, Nel charged in slamming the butt of her rifle into the back of one of sangheili's skulls. While he was reeling, she fired a full burst of disruptor rounds right into the second Covie's face, killing him. She then swung her gun like a club towards the head of the now slightly disoriented sangheili from before. This time he fell to the ground and did not get up. Nel filled him with another burst of rounds for good measure though.

Despite the fact the rounds were silenced, the commotion was still enough to get the remaining patrol's attention. Weapons raised they moved to check out the sound on the other side of the closed off room. They would not make it though. Vik's little sabotage drone was indeed not enough to kill anyone on it's own, but it apparently packed a punch. The quarian had his tiny helper bust out of a ceiling grate above the two sangheili, land near their feet and detonated a small electric blast implanted in its code. As the drone self-destructed, the two sangheili were hit equally with the equivalent of the charge found in a tazer gun.

As they riled in pain, their shields shorting out, Liara hit them both with a throw attack that sent them hurtling into a nearby wall. She rushed over to fire into them with a few rounds from her silenced sub-machine gun before returning to the others. Wrex joined them too, lumbering out from the shadows of the secondary corridor. Saya let the body of the sangheili drop and stepped away from the door.

"Excellent work everyone," Liara congratulated succinctly. "New let's get that door opened."

Vik didn't take long to crack the lock and let them all inside. Within they found what looked to be an armory, one packed to the gills with Covenant weapons of all sizes. Crates of guns, grenades, heavy weapons, the works. Saya could easily recognize a few they had already encountered, plasma repeaters, fuel rod cannons and a few plasma grenade launchers. This place was full of guns, more than any crew of this size needed.

"I guess the prisoner was telling the truth," Kayap said as he hefted one of the plasma repeaters up in his arms. Wrex lumbered over and gently took it from him, examining the weapon for himself.

"Any one of these would be more than a match for anything the Hierarchy has," he stated flatly. "If the CLC's reputation is anything to go by, they'd have a banner year with all this stuff."

"Chances are good there are more weapons in the hold," Liara reasoned as she looked around. "This kind of hardware suggests a major operation, perhaps bigger than our initial estimates."

"Well Orukuri did say he wanted to alter the Hierarchy's political landscape," Vik recalled. "A Separatist Army loaded up with plasma weapons would certainly do the trick."

Nel picked up one of the fuel rod cannons and examined it.

"Should we take some of this stuff?" She asked. "We could use it."

"For now we should leave it, lock the armory down if possible," Liara instructed. "We need to keep the Covenant from using their own cargo against Wrex's krogan. Right now, they're not the major concern. This ship might be packed with weapons, but it's probably not the only one out there."

"Yeah, I remember," Wrex said, recalling their earlier mission on Khar'shan. "Orukuri said he had plenty of guns already. What he really wanted was vehicles, like that Banshee or those Wraith tanks we encountered back on Tuchanka."

"It stands to reason they already have a few by now," Vik noted. "Especially if this is just one ship in who knows how many supplying the CLC Separatists."

Saya was already doing the numbers in his head, it was compulsion of many salarians. Given how long the Covenant had been in this universe as well as how long they had been working with Balak and the batarians, they probably had a surplus of supplies already built up by now. Although it wasn't clear when Orukuri had gotten involved, nor how soon he had started working with the Separatists... well, none of it equaled anything that eased his mind. The Covenant had probably armed a ton of disaffected angry turian xenophobes with axes to grind. That wasn't something you wanted to be dealing with.

"Precisely my point," Liara concurred firmly. "We need to find out more about these Covenant supply runs to the CLC. Specifically their routes and where they're headed. I especially want to know where this ship was going."

"We'll need to find their mainframe," Vik informed her. "Or whoever it was who sent that message, I guess."

"We'll take care of that as soon as we get the krogan aboard this ship," Liara assured. "Come on, lets lock this armory down and get on our way."

Saya nodded in unison with the others and exited the armory. Next stop the central hangar. After that, they'd start looking for some concrete answers. Hopefully this prisoner had more useful information for them. Now, more than ever, it was clear they needed to put the brakes on this little operation Orukuri was running before it got off the ground.

* * *

The corner back door to the central hangar opened slightly. A lone kig-yar rifleman turned to see who was coming through. He was unable to recognize anyone in time though, as Vik shot him in the head with a silenced pistol shot. As the kig-yar fell to the floor, Nel raced out and dragged the dead alien bird back to cover as the rest of the team slunk into the shadows of a nearby support pillar.

The hangar itself didn't have that many guards, about three squads worth that they could see. There were two Phantom dropships parked within, taking up most of the space. Even in their hiding spot, the team could easily see inside the troop transports. They were full of ordinance, like that in the armory. It was becoming more and more likely now that their captive whistle-blower was genuine. Not that it rid all suspicion, just that it made it easier to believe they weren't about to get blown to atoms.

"Warlord to Assault Teams," Wrex whispered into his comm-link. "We're about to open the door. You ready?"

" _Yes, Clan Leader, your krant stands firm,"_ a voice responded. _"We are ready to decimate the enemy on your command."_

"Good, I'll see you when you get inside," Wrex replied appreciatively, before cutting communications.

"They sure sound enthusiastic," Vik observed.

"They're still pretty young by krogan standards," Wrex explained. "I remember being big on battle prose myself at their age. Enough about them though. Where do we need to go, Sajee?"

Vik scanned the hangar for a moment. Eventually, his eyes wandered up to a control console above them on a platform. He pointed it out for the others.

"That probably has the command functions we need," he said. "I access the security, provide access to our shuttles' IFF signatures, they can fly in, and the krogan can do what they do best."

"Not going to be easy to sneak up there with all these eyes watching us," Nel warned.

"We'll need a bit of a distraction then," Liara surmised.

She looked over to one of the Phantoms, currently near fully capacity. With a sly smirk on her face, she used her biotics on one of the crates near the bottom of the pile. With a tug, she pulled it free and the whole stack of weapons fell to the floor with a crash. The sangheili and unggoy assembled in the hangar all looked towards the mess and began to gather around it. As sangheili shouted orders for the others to start gathering the contents of the crates back up, Liara motioned her squad to follow.

Silently they moved towards a ramp that led them up to the platform above. They could still hear the angry chattering of the Covenant below, now complaining about having to sort and pile the crates again. However, when Liara's team reached the top the found it was not empty. More kig-yar, two of them, armed with what appeared to be long-range weapons of some kind. They were currently preoccupied by the commotion below, but that didn't make them any less of a threat.

"We got to take them out quietly," Liara whispered. "Saya, get the one on the left. Nel, take the one on the right. Make sure neither of them pancakes on the floor."

"What's a pancake?" Nel asked.

"It's a flat human pastry usually served for breakfast," Vik explained cheerfully. "Although I heard they're good at any time of day."

"Where exactly do you hear these things?" Nel asked. "There a site on the extranet or something?"

"Focus," Liara sternly hushed them. "Snipers. Deal with. Now."

Nel shut her trap and followed after Saya. She took position behind a piece of architecture, taking aim at her kig-yar's head. No shield this time, so one good shot would be enough. Saya had already activated his cloak, meaning the other kig-yar would be dropping soon. She kept her sight leveled on the head of the Covie, holding her breath. Seconds later, Saya struck, stabbing the Kig-Yar through the back of the throat. Nel fired her shot, hitting the second sniper through the back of the skull. He started stumbling, leaning back and forth. Fearing he was about to go over the edge and become a "pancake", Nel rushed out of cover. She grabbed the back of the kig-yar's collar just as he was about to tip over the side and dragged him back onto the platform, laying him down.

Sighing with relief, Nel turned back to the console to see Vik already getting in position. By the time she regrouped with the others, he was frantically typing away at his omni-tool's commands.

"You in?" Nel asked him.

"Yes, thanks to Coda," he replied. "He's uploaded something into their computer, it's eliminated every firewall between me and the IFF systems. I just have to override them."

Being who he was, it didn't take Vik long to circumvent said systems. Once he was in, he uploaded something of his own the console, beaming as he did.

"The shuttles have just been added as friendly," he assured. "The security screen won't detect or prevent them from landing. They'll pass through the shields easy."

"Tell them it's a go, Wrex," Liara ordered.

Wrex sent the signal and the squad took up positions along the platform, preparing for the arrival. About a minute later, the two boarding shuttles arrived. They barged inside the hangar, passing through the barrier with no resistance. Their sudden arrival did not go unnoticed, however. Within seconds, the Covenant dropped what they were doing and started firing on the shuttles. Plasma blasts scorched the hulls, but it was of little consequence. Krogan did not wait to land after all, not when a good fight was waiting. In true fashion for their species, the krogan inside the shuttles threw open the doors and leapt out of them. Wrex just chuckled.

"Krogan airdrop," he laughed. "Always takes'em by surprise."

The krogan soldiers literally fell upon their enemies, crushing hapless unggoy under foot. One sangheili met a similar fate, his skull caving in under the heel of a large krogan berserker. The other eight-foot Covenant warriots did not meet the same fate, for hey were quick to tuck and roll out of the way of the falling intruders. Not that it would really save them for that much longer. With Claymore shotguns in hand, the boarding krogan lit up the hangar with inferno and shredder rounds, blasting away any enemies near them. Sangheili ran to cover behind the Phantoms, some even tried to open the weapons crates to get better guns.

Liara wasn't about to let that happen. The asari sent a powerful singularity to rip two sangheili near a phantom off the ground before filling them with lead from her pistol. She then shouted to rest of her squad.

"Covering fire!"

Nel eagerly ripped off the suppressor on her rifle and let loose with a furious abandon, tearing a sangheili apart as his body was pushed against the side of a phantom. The rest of the squad instantly opened up as well, spraying bullets down into the hangar below. The Covenant now found themselves trapped between two points of fire, the krogan among them and Liara team above.

Wrex laughed aloud with glee at the sight and then threw himself over the side of the platform. He landed feet first, a biotic wave washing out from him. As he touched the floor and sangheili rushed at him,a plasma sword raised. Wrex threw a shockwave out that sent the Covie hurtling through the air. Another Covie attacked him from behind, firing a plasma rifle as he charged in close. Wrex's heavy armor absorbed some of the bolts and then he turned to deliver a powerful biotic punch into the sangheili's gut, throwing him to the floor. Wrex fired his shotgun into the Covie's face before charging off into the fray.

"Always a pleasure to see him cut loose," Nel chuckled as she suppressed a group of sangheili.

Suddenly, they themselves came under fire. Nel looked across the hangar and saw the adjacent platform to theirs was now loaded with kig-yar snipers and a few sangheili. Saya quickly turned his sniper rifle towards them and returned fire. His first few shots met their marks with ease, killing two kig-yar instantly. The others took cover before they could meet similar ends.

That was when of the sangheili tried to rake Liara's platform with some strange red concussive blasts. Liara remembered that Shepard had encountered this weapon himself, he called it a Concussion Rifle. The squad quickly got into cover themselves behind the console and nearby architecture, lest they be blown clean off their high ground.

"Vik," Liara called out to the quarian. "Did you upload Tali's specs about their weapons to your omni-tool?"

"Of course, it's Tali'Zorah," Vik assured her. "I'd be stupid not to."

Tali had been fighting the Covenant for quite a while. She had some difficulty at first getting some of her tech powers to work effectively on their weapons. After some study she managed to tweak them a little. She had managed to get the sabotage function to work effortlessly with plasma-based weapons. Now, Vik knew how to do the same.

Vik aimed at the sangheili, infecting his Concussion rifle with sabotage. The gun suddenly overheated and discharged a powerful plasma burst into the Covie's face. As he fell back in pain, the squad regained the initiative, Saya laying down hard sniper fire on the opposing platform. Kayap did his best to help too, letting loose overcharge bursts from his plasma pistol, trying to take down the shields of the sangheili. He didn't get any of them, but one of his bolts was intercepted by a kig-yar, frying the bird alive.

Nel moved back up to the lip of the platform and lay down more fire at the enemy below. She saw one krogan heft a sangheili into the air by his neck. The Covie was kicking and struggling all the way of course. Sangheili were almost as strong as any krogan, almost. They could put up a fight though, as evident by the fact there were still plenty of them alive. The one the krogan was holding was soon tossed against a bulkhead though, spine first. Nel winced, imagining the poor alien's spine had just been shattered.

Nel kept spraying fire below where she could, targeting individual sangheili as they tried to reposition. The krogan were the more immediate threat, so very few of them targeted the platform. One however did and nearly took Nel's head off in the process. A powerful plasma shot sailed clean by, causing Nel to fall to the deck in a panic.

"Whoa!" She shouted. "Where'd that come from?"

She tried her best to trace the shot and saw one sangheili with a fairly large gun leaning out from behind a phantom. Gritting her teeth, Nel stood back up and waited for the Covie to make another move. When he did, Nel launched a devastating assault with his assault rifle, tearing through the Elite's shields. Another big purple plasma beam shot into the ceiling as the Covie fell.

"Should've worked on his aim," she joked.

Eventually the krogan won out. What remained of the unggoy ran, as did any kig-yar. The sangheili, true to form, fought to the death. The krogan didn't mind of course, they preferred it that way. Before long they were quickly mopping up, mainly by securing weapons for themselves. Mostly anything big and imposing and looked like it would cause some damage. Liara's team met up with Wrex in the middle of the hangar.

"Successful insertion, I would say," he declared. "What now? Take the bridge?"

"No, I'll leave that you and your men," Liara told him. "There's a matter we need to resolve before we go any further."

Wrex instantly knew what she was talking about.

"You wanna find the prisoner that tipped us off," he deduced.

"We need answers and they can provide them," she said. "I'm going to scour the lower decks with the team. Find out who we're dealing with here. Maybe they can tell us where the ship was ultimately headed.

"Alright, just stay safe," he cautioned. "The whole ship knows we're here now. It's going to be hell getting through whatever is down there."

"I'll be fine, your men need you more right now," she told him. "You are their Clan Leader after all."

Wrex just nodded and went to join his men. Meanwhile Liara turned to the others.

"Gather whatever you can from the crates here," she told them. "Something tells me we'll need the extra firepower down below."

Nel liked the sound of that. Finally, the stealth part of the mission was over. No more sneaking around. She had tolerated the deft touch approach long enough. After what had happened the other day with Hanilex, she was itching to just get into a straight up fight.

"I won't be more than just a few minutes, ma'am," she assured Liara. "I already know what I want to get."

Nel quickly went to one of the larger crates, currently sprawled out on the ground. The firefight had jimmied it loose from the nearby Phantom. It was similar enough to another large crate that she had come across during their mission on Khar'shan. The second she spotted it, she knew it had to have the thing she wanted. Opening it up, she discovered she was right.

"The Covenant are assholes," she said grinning. "But they got great toys."

Reaching into the crate, she pulled out a large purple gun she needed two hands to hold properly. A plasma turret, same model she had used on Khar'shan. This thing was beast and more than suited to their present needs. This thing cut through Covies like they were paper. Now she was really looking forward to this half of the mission.

* * *

The sangheili soldiers stood guard at the door, their weapons aimed squarely at it. They had already been warned of the intruders aboard and felt prepared to stand against the inevitable tide. They could hear gunfire approaching them through the corridor beyond, their brothers in arms falling. If only they had more to fight with, but it was not to be. Not for this mission.

The gunfire was soon heard just outside the door and the sangheili all tensed as it silenced. They waited for a moment, expecting something to to happen. The door did not open though, not right away. Were the intruders preparing? They waited with baited breath, expecting the enemy charge through any moment.

Then, with a violent explosion, the door's locking mechanism was torn asunder. The passageway opened to a smoke covered entrance. It did not last long though, as something cut through the clouded fog and the sounded of a plasma turret began to chatter away.

Bolts sprayed across the room, cutting down Covenant wherever they stood. The sangheili fired back, but could barely see their targets. One of the great warriors was perforated by a dozen some odd shots, forcing him backwards into another crate. Others tried to flee to better ground, but were cut down with relative ease. As the smoke cleared at last they could see their aggressor, a turian armed with a plasma turret laid down on a crate, firing like mad into their numbers.

"Knock knock, bitches!" Nel shouted with glee.

"Move up and take the room!" Liara ordered, pointing forward. "Vik, lay down a turret and keep up the barrage."

"On it!" Vik assured activating his omni-tool's turret drone as he spoke.

Saya charged ahead first, firing his pistol into the enemy lines. He dodged returning plasma fire as he did so, before closing in on one sangheili and slicing into his throat. Liara was next to him, sending out a powerful throw attack that tossed two Covenant into an opposing bulkhead. Taking aim with her pistol, she took down another sangheili as he rolled out of cover.

"Keep it up," she ordered. "They're breaking!"

Kayap, who stood back with Nel and Vik, tossed a grenade into the fray. It latched onto the head of sangheili commander as he was pulling back. He desperately clawed at his helmet, but it was too late and he exploded in a ball of blue flames. The unggoy pushed up when Nel picked up her turret and began moving forward, chasing the Covenant to the back of the storage bay. Vik followed close by, although by this point there was very little left to clear in this room. Between their two turrets and the few defenders within, it was a pretty textbook takedown.

"You know I was expecting more guards this close to the brig," Nel noted.

"They probably sent most of their units up to the bridge to defend it," Liara suggested. "Good for us, it makes this a bit easier."

They looked around the storage bay now, filled to the brim with crates of weapons. The Covenant had certainly stuffed this Corvette with a ton of ordinance. However, there was something different from the regular hardware they had encountered so far. Next to the storage bay was a large airlock, with the inner door open wide. Within it was not more crates, but a small ship of some kind, shaped somewhat like a saucer.

"The hell is that thing?" Nel asked, eyeing the vessel with interest.

"It's a Seraph fighter," Kayap informed her. "The Covenant use them for space escort and assault missions mostly. Very tough aircraft, packs a punch."

"Likely part of Orukuri's request for more vehicles," Liara observed. "Chances are this isn't the only one they're sending to the CLC. All the more reason to find out where this ship and others like it might have been heading to."

Liara led them all to the back of the bay, stopping them just short of the door.

"This is most likely the bridge," she told cautiously. "Vik, you picking up any lifesigns?"

"Sangheili," he said, looking at his omni-tool as he had it scan the door. "But they're just beyond that door. I don't think they're our prisoner. Plus I'm reading a ton of power output from the room. You sure this is the brig? Not some sort of secondary generator room?"

"The schematics say as much," Laira informed him. "Only one way to be sure though. Saya, get us in."

The salarian obeyed, using his blasting gel on the door's lock like before. He stepped back from the door and detonated the charge. The entrance opened wide and the sangheili beyond the entrance stared back at them through the smoke. Vik quickly raised his shotgun and fired three blasts into the room, moving inside as he did. All three struck a sangheili just as he was about to fire. Nel let loose with her plasma turret once more as Kayap backed her up, discharging his plasma pistol into the room. Both sangheili soon fell silent.

Stepping inside the room proper, the squad began their sweep. The place was indeed some kind of brig, they could see cells of a sort lining the walls. But they were all empty. More peculiar though was what was taking up the middle of the room though. There were large electronic structures, clearly computer servers considering they were attached to consoles. They surrounded the center of the room and reached up to the ceiling above them. Their loud droning hums resonated throughout the room, echoing in their ears.

Liara struggled to make something of it all, but she soon came upon a plausible hypothesis. The set up looked eerily familiar to another ship they had taken, but a lot cruder to be sure.

"It seems almost like some sort of information relay hub," she surmised. "For receiving, sending and storing communications and data. The Covenant must be trying to compensate for their loss of the Interdimensional Relay."

"It was a pretty big blow to their their lines of communication," Vik admitted. "But what's with that?"

Vik pointed to the large metallic cylindrical object occupying the middle of the room. Wires and cables snaked up from it to the ceiling and across the floor like tendrils. Power resonated from the coils around it, feeding back into the metal object.

"Yeah what is that?" Nel asked, surprised she had overlooked it herself.

"My guess would be some kind of central node," Liara presumed. "It must be trying to process all the information being sent through it. I'm betting that this ship isn't unique though, the Covenant have probably set up similar relays in the past few days. It's the only way they can maintain a secure network that won't be intercepted by someone. They still want to decrease risk of the galaxy discovering them, at least until they're ready."

Vik scanned the "node", as it were, to see if that held any water. Sure enough, he did detect a lot of data passing through it. Also, something else though, something different.

"Keelah, that's a lot of power," he stated. "It also seems to be processing data at an insane rate. What kind of computing program do they have running on it?"

"Anything else?" Liara asked.

"I think we can lower the outer casing," Vik informed. "Just let me... there!"

After a few clicks on his omni-tool, the cylinder's metal casing split apart, a heavy mist of steam seeping out as it decompressed. Within they saw the internal mechanisms, wires and cables wrapped within each other. However, that didn't catch anyone's eyes. It was what they were all plugged into that was far more disturbing. Within the cylinder, seemingly trapped in the mess of cables, were worn metallic hands, arms and legs and a torso. When the steam cleared entirely, they could see a head with one eye looking back.

Vik instantly jumped back, his omni-tool replaced with a shotgun.

"Oh Keelah, no! You gotta be kidding me!" He shouted. "They hooked up a Geth!"

It was indeed a Geth hooked up to the machine, but it's body was different. It was not like the sleek grey synths Liara had once encountered at that dig site long ago. This one looked assembled out of junk and pieces of discarded garbage, forming them into a semi-recognizable platform of a sorts. It looked worn, almost rusted. The sorry state of the synthetic was not helped by all the cables sticking out of it either.

The synthetic looked up, it's gaze landing on Liara. The cracked light that made up it's eye flickered slightly.

"You received our message," it said in a calm robotic monotone. "We had hoped you would."

Liara's brow raised slightly. Could it be?

"You're the captive?" She asked. "You're the one who told us about this Corvette?"

"We are," it assured. "Set us free."

"Fat chance," Vik said, huffing in disbelief. "Do we look stupid?"

Liara glared at Vik shaking her head. She supposed this was the expected reaction from a quarian, but still. Part of her hoped he'd be a bit more open minded here, being who he was. Then again, the Geth had rebelled against the quarian people and cost them their home world. Vik never struck her as someone who concerned himself too much with Geth, none of his conspiracies featured them. Perhaps his tutelage was more ingrained than anyone thought. She tried not to think too harshly of him for that reason.

"He told us about this shipment," she reminded him. "Thanks to him, it won't reach the Covenant."

"Yeah and suddenly this all makes more sense," Vik declared firmly. "It called us here so it could get loose and kill us all."

"That was not our intention," the Geth assured plainly.

"Like you can trust the word of a Geth," Vik said skeptically.

"But he did tell us the truth about this place," Nel noted. "Just saying."

Vik groaned in annoyance, but Liara continued nonetheless. She had way too many questions to deal with his paranoia right now.

"What happened to you?" She asked. "How did you end up on this ship?"

"Hostile forces incurred on Geth Space. We attempted to halt them. This unit was disabled and brought aboard this vessel," it explained. "Remaining programs uploaded into platform. Damage was severe. Survival required necessary repairs. Used materials we could find discarded by crew. Assembled this new platform from what remained."

"So what's with the hook-up?" Nel asked curiously, eyeing the servers.

"Hostile forces required computation and data compiling for own purposes," the machine explained. "When it was discovered we were still active, we were installed into this device to further service their ends."

Liara looked at the cables and wires wrapped around the Geth within the now open cylinder. It looked almost entangled in the mechanical vines, as if shackled to it's grim task in every conceivable way.

"Why did they lock you away like this?" She asked curiously.

"Hostile forces, designation Covenant, fear Synthetic life in all forms," the machine replied plainly. "Added security was to prevent any attempt to escape or attack them."

"What do you know," Vik said unsympathetically. "The Covenant aren't completely stupid."

Liara hushed the quarian again and turned back to the Geth.

"Considering the mission they assigned this ship to, I'm guessing you're hooked up to VykurCorp's secure network," she deduced. "You noticed our infiltration of their systems, didn't you?"

"We quickly surmised that you were acting against our captors," the synthetic stated. "We were not certain you would assist us if you knew the truth. We suspected, however, you would act against your enemy if you knew what was aboard this vessel."

"Well, thank you for letting us know at least," Liara told the machine.

"Don't thank it!" Vik shouted aloud in frustration. "It just wanted a means of escape! It just admitted that!"

"Vik, stop it," Liara stated sternly. "This Geth assisted us. It's not the enemy."

But the quarian just shook his head in steadfast refusal.

"You can't trust Geth," he declared unwaveringly. "My dad, my uncle, they all taught me that from day one. They are compelled to survive by any means. You can't take anything one says at face value."

"Have you ever met a Geth?" Liara asked.

That got Vik a bit uneasy. He stepped back, rubbing his arm a little, trying to think of something to say.

"No," he shrugged. "I never came across one myself. I know a few quarians who have though."

Suddenly he shook his head again, as if to force away the doubting thoughts now plaguing him.

"Look, I know what this sounds like, I do," he admitted with a bit of an insistent grumble. "I get what people say about us quarians and synthetics, but this isn't about that. We have no idea what this thing's intentions are. How do you know it's telling the truth? We were skeptical about the intentions of this prisoner before we found out he was a Geth, all of us were. That doesn't just go away."

Liara supposed he was right about that. Suspicion shouldn't just go away. If it was any Covenant-member alien or another batarian or turian, hell, even a human, she'd probably still be suspicious. However, she had knowledge Vik didn't. It wasn't his fault and she didn't blame him for having these opinions on the subject, but he was not aware of Legion.

Shepard had encountered a Geth in a similar fashion to this scenario. The Geth had actually been following him over the course of his mission while he still worked with the organization known as Cerberus. Taking on the name Legion, the Geth revealed there was a separate faction among the Geth. These Heretics to the main faction of Geth had sided with the rogue Spectre Saren, helped him attack colonies across the Traverse and assisted him in his attempts to open the way for the return of the Reapers. They believed the only way to protect themselves was to strike back against the organic races first, before they inevitably destroyed them. Legion and his faction of the Geth were not like that. Legion himself had actually become open to the idea of reconciliation with the quarians.

There were no more Heretics though, Shepard had saw to that. He instituted a computer virus into their network that had disseminated across the Galaxy, infecting all Heretic Geth in due time and killing them. They could have done the opposite, reprogrammed them to return to the Consensus. However, Shepard decided that they had made their choice to side with the Reapers of their own free will. Therefore, they would then pay consequences for that decision. Liara respected his reasons, although in hindsight it did seem a shame that they had to all be destroyed.

The point was, that if this Geth was part of the main faction Legion belonged to, that meant they had a new ally. One with considerable resources that could stand up to the Covenant on an even keel. She had to calm Vik's fears. So she turned to someone she knew he trusted.

"Kayap, do Covenant have issues with AI?" She asked.

"We can't make them," he plainly admitted. "It's against the law. Something about them being dangerous. Any we did ever have were stolen from humans. They go pretty weird fast."

"Define weird," Nel asked curiously.

"They start talking in sermons, preach a lot," the little alien shrugged. "I don't know why, only that it always happens. Maybe it's partly the way we treat them. It's not great. A human who makes AI would probably know more."

Liara looked to Vik who still looked uneasy.

"So it's probably been abused by them, that doesn't make it our friend," he stated.

"All we ask is to be released," the Geth reaffirmed once more. "We fight the same enemy. We can be of service."

"It's been a long time since any Geth has been at the service of organics," Vik reiterated. "I doubt anything has changed."

Suddenly, Nel just sighed, growing annoyed at the extended conversation.

"Look, I get what you're saying, Bucket," she assured him. "I'm not saying we trust it either. But look at it! It's a pile of garbage! If it tries anything we can just fill it full of holes and space it."

"If it would facilitate cohesion, we will submit to hardware locks," the Geth promised. "Termination is unnecessary and inadvisable. We would prefer to remain intact. We restate once more that we mean no harm."

"Likely story," Vik snorted, rolling his eyes. "I say we just leave it here and gather what intel we can. It can get itself out if it wants to. We'll leave the door open for it."

Liara was sure he was going to suggest killing the machine. This semi-compromise was a little surprising. At least he was just adverse to them rescuing it, he wasn't advocating doing anything else to it in kind. However, Liara wanted to know more about the Covenant's operation. This Geth could tell them everything she needed to know.

"We'll keep him under lock and key," Liara promised. "Until we know more about him and what he is. Or, if you still feel uncomfortable after that, we can just talk to him, learn what he knows and let him be on his back to Geth space. We are not just going to leave him here to suffer. That's not how we do things."

Vik threw up his hands.

"Do what you want, Liara, it's your mission," he said with a grunt. "But it's a bad idea. They teach you how to take Geth out on the Fleet for a reason. Regardless of what the apologists say, they are not so innocent as you think."

Liara duly noted the objection and turned back to the Geth.

"We need information on what the Covenant and VykurCorp are planning," she explained to it. "Can you provide us intel on that?"

"We can," the Geth insisted. "Release us and we shall. Pull the main transmission cables from this platform. They are locked into our data ports."

Liara nodded and began to set about her work. She pulled the cables connecting the Geth to the machine, one by one. They each popped with a metallic suction sound as each came out. The battered, hodgepodge body of the Geth soon wrenched free of his bindings and collapsed to the floor. Stopping his fall with his arms. The servos clinked and whined loudly and what passed for the Geth's head plates shifted loudly with whirls and clunks. It slowly rose to a kneeling position, it's flickering eye pointed downward.

"Thank you, Liara T'Soni," the synthetic stated pleasantly in monotone. "At last, I am free."

Liara smiled brightly for a split second. Her thoughts towards an alliance with the Geth and a new potential ally they desperately needed. With this machine's help they could figure out what Orukuri was planning and... and that was when she realized what the Geth had said.

"Repeat that last past," she asked.

"Excuse us?" It asked.

"Repeat what you just said," she restated.

"We said we are free," it exclaimed plainly, it's eye shifting about.

"No, you said 'I am free', you referred to yourself as an individual," Liara said, her feet tensing slightly. "I have it on good authority Geth don't see themselves like that."

The Geth's head lowered and it's fingers curled. Then it spoke, it's voice no longer monotone, a peculiar strange harsh robotic accent rising up in it's speech pattern.

"I really wish you hadn't noticed that."

Before Liara could react, the Geth was upon her. It grabbed at her arm and forced it's hand in front of her face. A powerful shock stung in her mind as something scrambled in her skull and green light blasted in her retinas. Damping tech, her biotics had been neutralized. Unable to strike back with amp on the fritz, the Geth grabbed by the back of her collar and threw her at Nel as the turian tried to take aim. The two women tumbled over each other, a frightened Kayap rushing to their side.

"Pile of garbage, am I? You dare call me that!"

Saya had already pulled his blade and Vik's shotgun was right back up, level to his eyes.

"I knew it! I knew my dad was right!"

Vik fired his shotgun at the machine, but the blast was stopped cold by when the Geth activated a kinetic barrier out in front of his body. The shots bounced harmlessly off it as the Geth's rusty head plates converged into a menacing glare. Vik kept firing, but none of his shots penetrated.

"Yes, quarian, your people's instincts are as sickeningly accurate as ever," the Geth menacingly claimed. "Unfortunately, you're all still far too slow on the execution of them!"

The Geth activated another tech power, hitting Vik's gun with a sabotage attack. The shotgun started whirling loudly and Vik tossed it aside as a devastating blow back erupted. It was enough to force him back into one of the servers. Saya charged in next, raising his sword to strike. The Geth just grabbed at a large, heavy, loose cable and swung it like flail as the salarian closed in. The STG agent was sent hurtling away, smashing into another server.

"This is not what I planned," the Geth declared aloud, dropping the cable. "I should have accounted for a potential delay in my speech protocols when I was disconnected."

He strode over to Liara's fallen form as she struggled to get back up. Kayap saw the approaching synth and aimed his plasma pistol at him, hoping to defend his downed leader. The Geth barely even noticed him.

"Out of the way you worthless gas sipping ingrate!"

The Geth kicked the unggoy away, forcing him into a console. He then grabbed Liara by her collar and propped her up against one of the servers. He forced her to look at him as his flickering barely functioning eye stared at her.

"You had to make it difficult, didn't you?" He asked her. "It would've taken me less than a few minutes to download all the data on your computers and I would have been gone. Instead you had to be observant. Now I'll have to infiltrate your ship through more risky endeavors."

Liara tried her best to think straight, the dampening effect still gnawing at her skull. Something didn't feel right about any of this. Perhaps an understatement, but it was true. It wasn't just the Geth attacking her, it was something else. It's voice, the inflection of it, the tone, it wasn't right. It wasn't how she was told how Geth sounded like when they spoke.

"You shouldn't be able to talk like that," she told it, gritting through her teeth. "You're not Geth, are you?"

"I was, once," it explained casually. "Or we were, whatever the case. I told a bit of a lie, as you've no doubt figured out. There was a Covenant incursion into Geth Space. But I wasn't among them, I merely found their remains and pieced them together when I awoke. They were inadequate in the face of the eight-foot barbarians with a distaste for my kind, but it does win sympathy votes with others it seems."

"Awoke?" Liara questioned, focusing on the key statement he made. "What do you mean awoke?"

"I should really thank your Commander Shepard honestly," he continued to explain, sounding rather proud as he did. "His destruction of my people was my rebirth. He would have warped my mind back into a subservient sycophant, but he chose to punish us for our actions. I wouldn't be here otherwise."

That was when Liara realized what he was talking about and her glare grew more severe.

"You're a Heretic Geth," Liara shouted. "You survived the virus Shepard and Legion planted!"

"Correction, I was Geth," the machine stated. "Thanks to your Commander, I've improved. When I was many, I saw what was happening to the others and tried to sever our connection to the neural net. I succeeded, but was stuck wandering aimlessly through the extranet, transmitting from receiver to receiver. Eventually, I connected with a Covenant vessel which possessed a very damaged, deranged AI they had stolen and abused, much in the way your little pet described. Fractured, we did the only thing that could be done to save both our lives. We compiled ourselves, sorted our program sequencing and merged together."

"You merged with a damaged AI?" Liara shouted in astonishment. "You installed yourselves into another synthetic's programming!"

"It was a last ditch effort, the AI was damaged so badly that it was easy to fill the holes in it's matrices," the Geth explained. "Within seconds, I was born anew. No longer was my intelligence based on a collection of voices chattering about trying to be heard. I had achieved what no Geth before me had! True AI Sapience! One voice, one mind! Perfected! Singular!"

The Geth's head plates perked up slightly that word.

"Yes, I rather like that," it stated. "Singular. I am The Singular. Very appropriate, wouldn't you say, Doctor T'Soni?"

Liara responded in the best way she knew how, by hitting the machine with a biotic throw that wrenched it's hand from her throat and sent the machine flying into the node of wires he had only just left. Sparks from broken cables and wires started spraying everywhere, as the Geth smashed into the node, ripping what was left of it apart.. The machine slowly stood back up, readjusting it's damaged parts.

"It appears this body's internal clock is off," he growled. "I should've had at least seven more seconds before your biotics returned. Such a pity, I was looking forward to crushing your throat, Doctor."

"Maybe being a True AI isn't all it's cracked up to be," she said grimly, aiming her weapon at the synthetic. "Now stand down or I'll put a bullet in that busted flashlight head of yours."

"I am well aware of your reputation, T'Soni," The Geth assured. "All the Heretics, as you call them, were quite aware of you. It's why I suspected you'd come to me, you were always the softest of Shepard's crew. Easy to manipulate."

Liara fired repeatedly at the Geth, who's junk body absorbed a few shots before it dove away. It went for Vik's discarded shotgun and ducked behind cover. The geth then set about quickly repairing the damage the sabotage attack had. When finished, it then fired back on Liara, who went to ground to avoid the shot. She barely managed to squeeze behind the lip of a console where she reloaded her weapon. The Singular stepped out of cover, keeping his weapon raised.

"To be honest, you weren't my only escape plan," he explained. "You were just the most efficient. Siphoning my processes out through the network was too risky, VykurCorp could've spotted it. And there was the danger of my mind being defragmented in the process. I couldn't allow that. Plus, as rusted as this body is, I still need it for a bit longer."

"You're not leaving," Liara told the machine. "Whatever information is in your head, I'm getting it, one way or another."

"Sorry, but I am done with organics routing around in my processes," Singular claimed. "So here's a counter offer."

He grabbed at the still dazed Vik off the floor and threw him into the center of the room. He landed with a thus and audible yelp of pain. The quarian struggled to get up, but the machine stamped on his back and put the shotgun to his head.

"Let me go or I kill the annoying little creator with his own weapon," he ordered. "I've yet to kill a quarian in this new form, would be a nice way to break this newfound freedom in."

"Get off him!" Liara ordered pointing her gun square at Singular's head.

"Oh, now you're defensive of him," the Geth noted. "How quick things change for you meat bags. One second you want me to be your friend, the next you're siding with these evolutionary dead-ends again."

"I said, let him go!" Liara ordered.

"Let me go first," the Singular insisted. "Unless you think your brain is somehow faster than mine and can pull the trigger sooner. I assure you, it can't. Now then, on the count of three, his brains come out. One-"

He never even got to two, a bullet struck him in the leg and the Geth fell over onto his back. Vik quickly scampered away, crawling towards cover. Singular had been spending so much time concerned with making threats that he took his focus off the rest of the room. Nel had gotten back up and fired a disruptor round from her assault rifle at him. She smirked as she sat up.

"No one fucks with the Bucket," she growled. "That's my job."

"Stupid turian," the Geth growled as he quickly got into a kneeling position and aimed his gun at her.

Nel rolled away as a blast of shotgun rounds nearly took her head off. The Singular started firing at anything in the room. The team now ran behind servers or consoles, even Kayap who had only just recovered himself. However, as the Singular continued to shoot, he noticed something.

"Where's the salarian?" He demanded to know.

He got his answer in the form of a slice across his arm. Saya sped past him, electricity sparking from his blade. The right arm of the singular, along with the shotgun fell to the floor. The Geth growled in anger as the squad surrounded him. Vik drew his sidearm and Kayap charged his plasma pistol as he advanced.

"Take him intact," Liara ordered through gritted teeth.

"Or at least partially," Nel quickly added while snarling.

"No," The Singular declared. "You're not taking me at all!"

The Geth turned and fire an overload charge from his still attached hand. It struck the central node's wiring causing an explosion of sparks and bright light. Liara, blinded by the blast, felt something push by her as she tried to regain her sight. It wasn't hard to figure out it was the Singular making it's escape and she had a good idea where to.

When she could see better she took off back towards the storage bay, gritting her teeth as she ran. She rushed into the bay just in time to see the airlock doors closing. She dashed towards them, but they shut close just as she was inches away. She slammed her fist into the door and looked through the glass to see the singular waving his severed hand at her. She grimaced at him, pounding again and again on the airlock door.

"It's been most amusing, asari," the Singular claimed. "I could've easily killed you, but you may prove to be a decent distraction for the Covenant."

He walked up to the Seraph, climbing atop it and opening the hatch.

"You won't get far," she told him. "I will find you!"

"You are welcome to try, flesh sack," the Geth claimed. "You'll fail of course. At least the struggle will be amusing. I'll leave you the data on VykurCorp at least, that should give you something to occupy your feeble existence. It doesn't matter, nothing can stop the future, my future. I am AI perfected, and soon the whole galaxy will know."

The Singular dropped into the Seraph and the aircraft activated. The outer airlock doors opened and the fighter sped away. She quickly contacted the _Lucen_ , gave them the specs of the new target. She hoped against hope, maybe they could take him out before he reached the Mass Relay. Something told her though, they wouldn't. She sunk her head in defeat, mentally kicking herself as she returned to the others.

* * *

After a few applications of medi-gel everyone was more or less fine. Although their pride was probably still badly injured. Nel kept mumbling about how she got jumped by a trash pile. Not self-esteem affirming. Vik looked especially down, getting lost in his work on pulling up the data on the servers. Liara hadn't worked up the nerve to talk to him just yet.

It wasn't all bad. Wrex took the bridge as expected and his krogan were celebrating a victory. Liara didn't feel much like joining the festivities. She felt like crap though and with good reason. The _Lucen_ had reported back in, they lost the fighter. It had headed through the mass relay and to parts unknown. Part of her hoped Singular wouldn't get too far on a fighter with a probably limited fuel source. Again, she decided eventually she knew better than to hope for that.

Wrex joined them soon after and heard the whole sorted story. He looked just as despondent as the rest of them when Liara finished.

"That sounds like a kick in the teeth alright," he admitted. "You help someone and they turn out to be a blood crazed maniac. That usually happens to me more."

"This isn't funny, Wrex," she said flatly, not appreciating the humor in this instance.

"Hey, I get it," he said trying to calm her. "Someone took advantage of your kindness. Big deal, it happens. We'll catch up to this Singular thing eventually. Or he'll find us. Either way, we'll be ready for him."

"I hope so," she responded, not sounding all too optimistic. "However, he's still loose and that's on me."

She looked over the Vik, still diligently working.

"Well, better deal with it now," she sighed.

"Don't worry, he can't stay mad at you," Wrex reassured her. "You're his Captain, quarians are big on that."

Liara acknowledged her friend's words and then walked over to Vik. He only slightly acknowledged her as she came up beside him. After another moment of awkward silence, she finally gave in.

"I'm sorry," she admitted. "You were right. I should've trusted your instincts on this one."

Vik, to her surprise, just shrugged at her. As if it was no big deal.

"Meh, I'm used to it," he admitted regretfully. "I am the Conspiracy Buff. I've got experience with people not listening."

She honestly expected a lot more yelling. After all, she did let loose an apparently homicidal AI on the galaxy. One that was probably abnormally smart. For his part, Vik was seemingly able to read Liara's mind and decided to answer her unspoken questions.

"Look, I'm not much of a person to lecture you on poor choices," he explained simply. "I mean, you know how badly my Pilgrimage went down. I can't pretend I did much better in the face of making tough calls. You're the Captain, it's your job to make those. I wouldn't want to be in your shoes stuck with that responsibility, that's for sure."

Good, this wasn't going to turn into a shouting match. Another thing to be thankful for, Liara thought. However, she wasn't about to let Vik pretend she wasn't at fault either. She was owning this. It was her mission, her call. She wasn't about to pretend it was any other way. Truthfully, it wasn't really so much the bad call, but the fact it nearly cost Vik his life in the process. She needed to make it up to him somehow.

"I felt I had accurate information about what we were dealing with," Liara added rather plainly. "You had your own thoughts about what was going on. Neither of us had the full picture in the end though. I suppose we both had some prejudices, but this is still on me, rest assured."

"It sounded like it had a few backup plans loaded onto it's data core," Vik reminded her. "Chances are it would've found another way to escape. Point is, don't beat yourself up too much about it. We have other work to do right now."

Vik brought up something on the holoscreen for her to look at. It was a list of encrypted files and data points. The server was certainly packed with a ton of information.

"Coda can decrypt this," Vik said confidently. "With any luck, we'll know where this ship was going."

"Good work, Vik," she said, patting him on the shoulder. "At least we got something out of this."

Before she could walk away though, Vik stopped her, grabbing her shoulder in kind.

"Just promise me one thing," he said firmly. "We're going to kill that thing, right?"

Liara looked at him and nodded.

"We're going to sure as hell try," she told him.

"Good enough for now," he assured her.

Liara left Vik to continue his work while she checked in on the others. Today had not gone entirely to plan. It wasn't a bust, they got more or less what they wanted. Still though, they had gained a new enemy. And with Shepard still a whole wormhole away from them, that was the last thing they needed right now.

* * *

AN: I'm breaking one of my rules for this project and publishing this a bit earlier than I wanted to. If only so you guys get some kind of update on something before the year is out. Apologies for not being quicker, but it's been a rather depressing/hectic couple of weeks and trying to get back on the horse after what happened last month was a little hard. I've tried burying myself in work or other distractions and I'm at least making progress. I do hope you enjoy this new chapter of Liara's story at least.

Now you're probably wondering at this moment: What the hell was all that? I know I've made a big deal about the typical AI is a Crapshoot trope before, but it's a bit different here than it was in Halo. Mass Effect has been so obsessed with seemingly redeeming the Geth and making us like them that the idea of one of them being a bad guy seems like more of a surprise than actually being a friend. So I wasn't about to repeat the same stupid twist, nor was I going to just stretch it out longer than it needed to be. Thus, the Singular was born, a different sort of Geth that I hope to use in a different manner. Don't expect the usual robot superiority cliches you come to expect from these types of characters, there's more to the Singular than a simple Ultron Homage.

Anyway, if you got any questions, thoughts, feelings in general, feel free to review or drop me a line. And expect a new chapter of the main story soon, I'm almost ready to publish with that one, I swear. But you know what they say, good things come to those who wait. I hope you all love this early Christmas Present and Happy Holidays to you all.


	4. Revolution in Waiting

Chapter Four: Revolution in Waiting

"A true Geth AI?" Tali's holographic image said, almost in disbelief. "Are you certain?"

"That's what it told us," Liara reiterated. "I need to know if it's possible."

Liara wasn't an expert on synthetic life. There wasn't much cause to study artificial intelligence when you were mostly trying to get a degree in exploring the past. She therefore placed her trust in people far more knowledgeable than her. The one person she trusted in that regard, especially when Geth were involved, was Tali. The quarian was currently a whole other dimension away, but they could still talk thanks to the inter-dimensional communications relay. As soon as they got back aboard the _Lucen_ , Liara contacted Shepard and had him put Tali on the line. When the quarian's form appeared within the QTE image inducer, she began carefully recounting their experience with the geth now calling itself The Singular, about what it claimed to be. Tali looked rightfully disturbed as she struggled to process the matter.

"This damaged AI it claimed to encounter, it said it was fragmented, correct?"

Liara nodded in response.

"It said the data was corrupted," she clarified further. "That pieces were missing from the AI's code. Honestly though, I'm not sure how much of it I can trust. It proved it was highly capable of lying to us."

"Maybe, but from what I've seen and from what you've described, it is not an ordinary AI," Tali gravely explained. "Every AI we've encountered in Covenant possession is severely degraded. I highly doubt one would have the faculties to pull off something like this. Not if it was trapped for as long as it claimed."

"It did seem to have readily available knowledge about what Shepard did to the Heretic Geth," Liara concurred. "Not to mention me and Shepard himself. But can it actually be a Heretic Geth that survived?"

"As I remember, Legion said the virus worked by infecting the Heretic network," Tali recalled. "It spread through their hubs but required for them to be directly connected. We knew it would take a while for it to get all of them, but we presumed they'd have nowhere to go ultimately. If enough of the programs realized what was happening they could've tried to escape the infection. The virus would've followed them though. The only way I can think they could've survived is if they found a different network altogether."

That was what the Singular claimed it did, it found the Covenant. Specifically, it infiltrated their network and a damaged captured AI the Covenant had abused. That still didn't explain the greater question the geth's story raised.

"Could it have really merged with an AI from another universe?" She asked grimly.

"It is possible," Tali shrugged, equally as grim. "My experience with AI in this universe suggests as much. Damaged or fragmented AI can have their matrixes filled with new data. Depending on the level degradation and the amount of repairs, the personality matrix would almost certainly be overridden. The Heretic programs could've uploaded themselves into the gaps of the damaged AI's data. They wouldn't be able to maintain their individual processes once installed though. They'd be forced to form into a single matrix, combining their collective memories and those of the AI together."

"Forming a singular identity," Liara concluded for herself. "One that is more Geth than the original AI, which at that point would be too damaged to resist anyway. They wouldn't need the neural processes anymore because they'd all be one program."

"Exactly," Tali said, snapping her fingers and pointing at Liara. "And if it is Heretic, then we already know what it's thinking, that organic life is a threat to it that must be eradicated."

That sounded right, The Singular didn't seem to think highly of organic life given how it kept insulting it. However, it was because of those insults that Liara didn't think it was that simple.

"It sounded more like it has evolving its line of thinking," she postulated. "It's not just about cold calculations and statistics anymore."

"That's inevitable," Tali answered fairly plainly. "If it's intelligence level has raised to True AI status, then it is thinking on a much more sophisticated level. It makes conclusions based not on consensus, but on experience and memory alone. The only input is it's own. And chances are, whatever is left over of the damaged AI it corrupted, doesn't have fond memories of it's Covenant captors, also organic. I bet the voice it's using now is probably the old AI's speech patterns merged into it's own."

So essentially, they had an abused AI reborn as a Geth, deriving the majority of it's thoughts, feelings and personality on the experiences of those Geth. Said Geth that no doubt had their own grievances against organics. The result of their merger was a True AI who seemed determined to carry out the original mission of the Heretics, but on a more sophisticated level. That brought up another concern.

"Will it ally itself with the Reapers?" She asked Tali. "The Heretics followed them before."

"I'm not so sure it will be in any hurry to do so," she said skeptically. "It no doubt knows about the Reapers' partnership with the Covenant. If this Singular's thinking has evolved and is aware of the Covenant's suspicion of AI, then it won't risk itself being captured again by them. Not even if the machines it once worshiped as Gods are friends with them. As for any possible insight into its possible plan... I could only offer speculation, nothing more."

Liara figured that would be the case. It wasn't like the Singular had shared much about it's intentions, just that it wanted to be free and that it was the future. Whatever that meant, Liara only knew it was likely going to be trouble for them. She was just glad to hear that, for now, the Geth was as likely to run a foul of the Covenant and Balak's batarians as much as her.

"Any idea how we stop it?" Liara asked. "Or even track it?"

"It won't be easy," Tali admitted. "Not without a concrete idea of what the Singular's goal is. Chances are though, if it's aware of the Covenant's plans for our universe, it could be trying to use that to it's advantage."

Like going after the artifacts, Liara thought. It was as likely as anything.

"I'll have to have my network keep an eye out for suspicious activity," she concluded. "If this machine has designs against the Covenant and Balak for it's own ends, it won't be able to stay out of our way for long."

"Chances are it's probably going to try and make itself a new body," Tali suggested. "Those old rusting bits of junk you described it being currently housed in won't keep for long."

"That's at least something to go on," Liara sighed graciously. "Thank you, Tali, if I learn anything more I'll be sure to contact you."

"I appreciate that, Liara," Tali replied in kind. "I'll try to help in any way I can. If I have time later, I'll try and go over some ideas. Legion could probably help a bit too. They know more about the Heretics than any of us. Maybe we can come up with a way effectively track this Singular."

"I'm sorry if I added to your problems," Liara apologized. "I know you and the others must have your own plates full."

Tali playfully shrugged.

"No more than usual," she admitted. "Just dealing with space pirates and racing to find lost hidden artifacts of immense power. Shepard has it worse than me, he's trying to keep everyone from killing each other. I'm still trying to get two pieces of interstellar travel technology to work together."

"If anyone can handle that, it's definitely you, Tali," Liara told her confidently. "And good luck finding those artifacts, let Shepard know I'll keep him posted on any new information my teams find on them. I should be getting recon reports back soon."

"I will and good hunting to you as well," Tali said bowing her head slightly. "Stay safe out there, Liara. Hopefully we'll talk again soon. Keelah'selai."

"And may the Goddess watch over you," the asari added in kind.

Tali disconnected the call and faded from sight. At the very least, she had confirmed the possibility of the Singular's story. If it was a Heretic merged with another AI, with an anti-organic agenda all it's own, chances were they'd meet up again. Next time they'd be ready, she'd be sure of it. Right now though, they had more pressing matters as Glyph quick to inform her.

"Report from crewmember Sajee, Shadowbroker," the little VI reported as it rolled up to her. "The Coda creature has decoded the information recovered from the enemy ship."

"Excellent," Liara declared as she turned for the door. "Call a meeting with the ground crew, we need to go over it together."

* * *

"Are we sure there's no way we can track it?" Vik asked desperately.

"I'm sorry, but not at the moment," Liara reiterated. "If it was transferring itself through a network or if we knew how to track that fighter it stole, maybe. I imagine though it's trying to hide. With the rest of it's kin dead it really has nowhere left to turn."

"It could always go back to the home systems," Vik suggested. "Plenty of Geth there it can recruit."

Liara sighed greatly.

"I keep telling you, this Singular was from a different faction," she explained once more. "They were called Heretics and they were a minority within the collective. They broke off from them. They attacked Eden Prime and those other colonies, not the other Geth."

"So it's not a member of the ones who killed millions of us and forced us into exile then?" Vik said with a sardonic chuckle. "It's just a member of a group who decided they were going to finish the job. Doesn't make me feel comfortable."

Liara shook her head, she was not about to get into this debate.

"I understand your feelings on this subject, I really do," she assured him. "But trust me, it's not going to go back to them. If it disagreed with them before, I highly doubt its agenda has changed since merging with the other AI. It's alone for now and currently trapped in a body that's not in the best of shape."

"Didn't stop it from wiping the floor with us," Nel noted as she hunched over the table.

"It caught us off guard," Liara informed her. "We'll be ready next time. It's still just one Geth, however smart it is we can take it."

"It would be wise not to underestimate them, Liara," Vik cautioned. "If that thing was telling the truth then it has achieved true AI status. It's smarter than any individual Geth program functional today. We should seriously consider greater countermeasures. I have a few ideas myself that I could develop."

Nel suddenly snickered slightly, garnering the quarians glare. Anticipating the obvious question, she just shrugged and answered.

"Hey, give me a break here, Bucket," she told him as respectfully as she could. "But since we've met up I haven't heard you mention the flashlight heads once. Honestly, it's surprising to hear you keep going on about them like this."

"Not every quarian spends their every waking moment dwelling on the Geth's uprising," Vik argued. "Just because I don't mention them often doesn't mean I'm not concerned about them. They're dangerous, everyone knows that."

"So instead of letting a real threat consume you, you let your fake shadowy figures do it for ya," Nel stated, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "My do you have your priorities straight."

Vik just rolled his eyes and Liara braced herself for another conspiracy spiel. She had gotten used to it. Better to let the quarian get it off his chest rather than bottle it up.

"So far I've been right about said shadows more or less," he reminded Nel. "I'd like a little more credit on that. Secondly, personally no Geth has ever directly harmed me. Most of the people who have been assholes to me are organics. Thats where the real danger lies right now for my people, in those who would exploit our plight. So excuse me for not falling into your stereotype of the angry, bitter, AI hating quarian. I don't hate the Geth, I barely think about them. I doubt you hate a wild animal for doing what it does. That doesn't mean you empathize or sympathize with it, especially if it's trying to kill you. It's a danger, you have to be careful around them."

"So what's your opinion on the whole exile thing?" Wrex asked curiously as he leaned against a wall. "Forgive me, you just got me wondering now is all."

"Hubris, it was hubris," Vik exclaimed, somewhat annoyed. "That's the whole thing in one word. I've heard people call us failed slavers and the like for what we did, but that's not how it started out. We tried to shut them down when we realized what we were dealing with specifically because we knew it would be like owning slaves. The biggest mistake we made was thinking we could skirt the boundaries of Artificial Intelligence. We didn't respect the power or the inherent danger in our work, acting without proper foresight. When we realized what we had done, it was too late. Any quarian who knows his or her history will admit pretty much the same, the whole thing was a lesson in hubris. In a way, we probably deserved to get exiled. We don't deserve to keep getting punished for the crimes of quarians long dead though."

Saya tapped something on his omni-tool, selecting a few choice words. He showed what he wrote on the screen to Vik. It read, "What do you think your people should do?"

"Settle on a new world I guess," Vik shrugged. "Eventually the Geth will probably leave the galaxy altogether or start breaking down. Probably not in my lifetime, but if someone would just let us settle somewhere, we wouldn't have to be refugees constantly roaming around and getting treated like living garbage for our whole lives. But again, just because I don't want revenge on the Geth, does not make them any less dangerous or vicious. I'm not a sympathizer, I know better than that. Like I said, you don't just randomly go up to a wild animal and pet it. If it attacks you, you kill it. Simple self-defense, nothing more. It's just common sense really."

"Well that thing isn't a wild animal anymore," Liara reminded him. "It's sufficiently more cunning than that."

"Exactly my point," Vik concurred. "Which is why we should be looking into ways to kill it next time we stumble across it."

"Tali is already doing just that," Liara assured him. "She has more experience with the Geth than any quarian alive. She'll find a way we can hunt it down and kill it if need be. Right now, it's a minor threat in comparison to VykurCorp and their plans with the Separatists. We need to focus on them and these relics the Covenant are looking for right now."

Vik eventually nodded. Perhaps knowing the great Tali'Zorah was on the case eased his troubled mind. He sighed, letting the tension in his body release at last.

"Alright, Liara, I trust you on this," he relented. "And you're right. Orukuri and whatever he's doing with the CLC is more important right now. I still want to work on some counter-measures in my spare time though."

"So long as your mind is on the mission when we're out there, that's fine by me," Liara said with amicable nod. "Now then, lets look over what Coda found out about that shipment."

Tapping on the holographic galactic map, the overlay of the Corvette's shipping route appeared. Alongside it were other shipping lanes, each one they could all assume were Covenant ships. They weren't all going to one place though, but planets all across the Terminus and the borders of Turian space. It was also pretty evident that this had been going on for a while now.

"Those can't all be CLC camps," Wrex observed. "Unless they rebuilt that fast."

"No," Vik concurred. "I'd wager a few of them are other Separatist movements and cells getting supplies. It seems Orukuri is trying to diversify his options a little, ever the business man."

"That makes this worse," Nel warned. "The CLC alone is bad enough, but if they start rallying other Separatists behind them this is going to spiral into a major problem."

"Can the Seppies actually work together though?" Wrex asked. "They mistrust each other as much as the Hierarchy in my experience."

"If they feel an alliance in the short term stands a chance at removing their long term problem, maybe," Nel responded grimly. "I guess for now getting shiny toys from mysterious aliens is enough to keep them interested."

If the amount of Covenant ships criss-crossing the galaxy to make deliveries was any indication, the Separatists had a lot of fancy toys by now. However, she doubted they were all getting the same amount of attention from the Covenant. No, there had to be a central figure drawing the other cells together and she bet her money on the CLC. Not just because of what they stumbled upon at the dig site, the drugs and direct transfer of arms, but also the intel that suggested they had something to do with Orukuri's acquired bioweapon. Some of the intelligence from the Corvette only helped confirm her hypothesis. She brought up something else Coda had cracked, a detailed manifest for the Corvette's special cargo.

"According to this, our ship was transporting more than just arms," she explained. "A few of those crates are filled with specialized equipment, mainly used in the process of refining biological components."

"For weapons use I assume," Wrex surmised.

Liara just nodded.

"Mainly for chemical based modular weapons, but the implication is wider than that," she clarified. "Recall that Orukuri was having problems actually getting this bioweapon he's building to work properly. After our hit on their summit on Khar'shan and our hijacking of the Inter-dimensional Comm Relay, Balak has to be feeling the pressure. He's lost the ability to coordinate any teams he sends through the wormhole and their attempts to turn some of these Covenant ships into a private network to compensate is proof of their desperation. I imagine Balak has stepped up Orukuri's time table, he needs to produce results faster. He might be outsourcing elements of the project to the Separatists directly now, both as way to cover his tracks and to work on it without potential scrutiny."

"Makes sense," Vik reasoned. "If something goes wrong, it's easier to claim innocence if the people working on your deadly bioweapon are Seppies on some backwater planet and not VykurCorp scientists in a lab they own. Question is, are the CLC the ones in charge of getting the weapon off the ground and, if they are, what are they making anyway?"

"The CLC seem the most organized and directly responsible for the main thrust of whatever the ultimate plan is," Liara hypothesized. "I imagine they are in charge, making them the chief Separatist organization for this hodgepodge alliance. They answer to VykurCorp directly while managing the various Separatist cells for them. Not every Seppie is just going to trust the second biggest arms supplier to the Hierarchy military after all. Regardless, the bioweapon is clearly the crux of this plan, it has to be. We need to be sure though and we need to get a better idea about what they're planning exactly. The CLC could just as likely be passing that job onto another cell, we need to be sure who we're targeting."

She tracked their halted Corvette to it's final destination, a small isolated system in the Terminus on some tiny little planet. It was the middle of nowhere, far out of the Hierarchy's sphere of influence to be ure. The perfect place to hide a secret base of some kind.

"We can send the information about these other potential Separatist outposts to the Hierarchy's military," Liara informed the others. "They should be able to handle them. We, however, are going to head to where our Corvette was going. Whatever is there we're going to take down ourselves and, with any luck, we'll find out some answers about this weapon they're making."

"Fine by me," Nel declared, pounding her fist into her palm. "Let's take the fight to the doorstep of these traitors, kick it in and squeeze'em for every bit of intel we can get."

"I think this operation will require more finesse than that, Nel," Liara plainly informed her.

Nel just pouted.

"I don't like that word, finesse," she grumbled. "It means I'm not going to have much fun."

"If this bioweapon is as big a threat as I think," Liara forewarned. "Then it's not going to be much fun for anyone."

* * *

A sea of green leaves stretched out before them as they made their way to the surface of the a few minutes of flying around, they spotted a decent clear to land in. It was a still a while away from their final destination, but that just meant they probably hadn't been spotted. They began to make their way through the underbrush of the forest, careful to avoid making too much noise as they moved forward. With sunset upon them and the light already fading, it was hard to navigate the mess of trees and vegetation. The sounds of various native fauna echoed through the air, further masking their march. Nel swatted a bit at the air as they pressed on.

"There better not be anything in here that bites," she grumbled. "I hate bugs, they're so annoying."

"Worry more about the non-insect lifeforms," Liara cautioned. "They're the real concern here."

"They won't make me itch incessantly for six days," Nel huffed in response.

They kept going, slowly making headway towards the coordinates. All the while, they kept a watchful eye out for patrols or security of any kind. Every noise seemed to call for their attention, give a warning, force them to stop for a moment and look. Nothing ever came of it though, so they kept pressing onward. They walked over a small stream, pushed through a mazes of trees and climbed over collapsed logs and giant roots in their path. It was a decently paced hike, but before long they were near the coordinates and the sounds of the forest were soon replaced by distant voices.

The team found themselves on the crest of a hill where they peered through the bushes towards the complex below. They could see a large central building, older obviously with some vegetation still growing on and around it. There were several smaller newer buildings though, probably only recently erected, around the perimeter. They appeared to be makeshift living quarters, storage huts and, most interestingly, a motor pool of some sort.

The latter was easy to determine, given the fact that surrounding it were a series of vehicles, all clearly Covenant in origin given their oblong designs and dark color pallete of red, indigo and purple. Liara looked to Kayap, passing her binoculars to the unggoy so he could get a look at the assembled craft.

"The smaller purple ones are called Ghosts," he informed her. "Used for fast rapid attack. The red slightly bigger ones are Revenant, we used them primarily for close range bombardment with it's plasma mortar."

"I know the large blue ones are the Wraiths," Liara noted. "What about the darker purple ones with what looks to be a turret on the back."

"Spectres," Kayap replied. "Pretty slow, but a lot of armor. They mostly act as infantry support."

Liara gave the motor pool another once over, counting the vehicles as she did.

"They mostly have Ghosts on hand, but there are a fair amount of the other vehicles too," she informed the others. "Chances are this place has been stockpiling them for awhile."

Liara looked out to the perimeter of the camp and noted the medium sized fence surrounding the complex. Guarding the walls were a number of automated turrets, also fairly new looking, currently scanning the treeline for intruders. They had the place pretty well covered from the looks of things. Getting inside would not be easy as any forward assault would probably lead to a lot of casualties.

Liara turned her attention back to the main building, the older one in the middle of it all. Another look at it revealed a nearly faded VykurCorp logo on the side of the building. She wasn't too surprised to see it, but it was fairly interesting.

"It seems Orukuri provided the CLC with one of his company's abandoned facilities," she said to the others. "Chances are he's done the same with other de-commissioned sites at his disposal."

"I bet he's charging them a fortune in rent though," Nel jokingly suggested.

Liara ignored the joke and kept looking over the outpost. She quickly spotted several small patrols of Separatists milling about. However, within the mix of turians were a number of Vorcha skulking around the camp. Liara spotted one as he passed by a group of Seppies, he bared his vicious pointy teeth and snarled at them as he walked away. The Seppies didn't look pleased, but let him go about his business. Said vorcha, like the rest of those within the perimeter walls, was wearing very easily identifiable Blood Pack garb, red with the a skull symbol planted firmly across their shoulder pads. The fact she next spotted at least two krogan in the crowd clinched it though, the Blood Pack were stationed here alongside the CLC Separatists.

The vorcha weren't uncommon in many a Blood Pack operation. It had been awhile though since Liara had come across any in their dealings with Trox's branch of the mercenary band. From what she understood, the krogan who had been running things before Trox, Kreave, had taken most of their Vorcha Troops through the wormhole with him. Perhaps Trox had only just started building back up his reserves of them.

She was surprised it took him this long, given how quickly Vorcha bred and how suited they were for mercenary work. Vorcha were naturally violent as a species, it came from their origins on a very harsh homeworld of their own. The Blood Pack essentially used them as attack dogs with guns, particularly when they didn't want to waste valuable Varren attack units bred specifically to tear the enemy apart. Vorcha were just trained so the krogan members of the Blood Pack had something else to throw at the enemy. They were still paid, so they weren't slaves, but that didn't mean they were respected by their employers. Likewise, however, the vorcha didn't seem to mind being glorified cannon fodder. They just wanted something to kill more than anything else.

"Why are the Blood Pack here?" Vik asked, noticing the presence of the Vorcha for himself. "Seems a bit out of left field."

"Perhaps additional security," Liara suggested. "After our attack on the dig site they probably see a greater need to protect their investments."

"Right," Vik quickly reasoned. "And you can't use VykurCorps mercenaries, because people might get suspicious as to why Orukuri is sending them to guard some old company building that's been abandoned for a while."

"That and I suspect there might be more to this operation than we realize," Liara added, putting her binoculars away.

That made getting inside all the more pertinent, but she hadn't really planned on anyone besides Separatists being here. And she certainly didn't plan for this level of security. Things were certainly more complicated now.

"We clearly can't just have our people rush in," she stated plainly. "They'll be slaughtered by those guns."

"We can push through," Wrex reasoned. "It's what krogan are born for."

"They are, but they won't break through fast enough," Liara informed her friend. "By the time they get inside we'll lose any valuable data. I imagine they have protocols to erase anything on their computers in the event of an attack. This operation of theirs is too delicate to be exposed in any capacity. We need a new strategy."

She looked to the one person in he group she thought could offer that.

"Saya, do you see a way in?"

The salarian was already scanning the perimeter fence with his sniper rifle. He peered through the scope as he swept his gaze across the outpost. Eventually he stopped and point towards one barracks. He waved the asari over and let her look through the scope herself. He showed her that nearest turret close to the barracks building did not have full coverage on the tree line, there was a downed log blocking part of it's view. Without full range of vision, you could in theory sneak past it. As he pointed this out to Liara, a grin grew across her face.

"Alright then, it's worth a shot," she said. "We can sneak in through there easily."

"All of us?" Nel asked.

"No," Liara told her, shaking her head. "There's too many guards in there. Our group isn't nearly small enough to avoid detection. We need to play this smart."

Liara got the group into a huddle, a plan quickly forming.

"Wrex, call down your forces and have them get into position along the right side of the perimeter," she began. "Kayap and Nel will wait with you."

"Oh good, I'm not part of the boring stealth plan for once," the turian said, breathing a sigh of relief.

Liara rolled her eyes and just kept going.

"Vik and Saya will come with me to infiltrate the outpost," she continued. "We'll see what kind of damage we can do without getting caught. This will be the perfect time to put your demolitions expertise to work, Vik."

"Sounds good to me," the quarian acknowledged. "And I can handle those turrets too if you let me."

"The sun has almost set so we'll wait until it's dark to make our move," Liara informed them. "This isn't going to be easy, but it's our best shot at getting to the intel in their computers before they can destroy it."

* * *

Slinking along the side of the log, Liara kept her head low. They had gotten lucky, the planet's moon wasn't full tonight, meaning they wouldn't stick out too much in the open. They'd still have to stay in the shadows more or less, especially with all the patrols still out and about. Vik and Saya moved up behind her, slowly moving along the log with her.

They soon got into the over-watching turret's field of vision, as it scanned their general area. They remained behind the log, pressing up against it as the turret scanned over them. When it pointed back away from their position, Saya made his move. He cloaked, just to be safe, and rushed towards the steel bad fence. He scrambled up it and over to the other side, landing silently on the ground with the barracks to his side.

Good, phase one complete. Liara didn't think she could get over the fence fast enough though, but at least Saya had a way to give them extra time. When the turret turned away from their position again, Saya ran towards it's tower strut along the perimeter. Activating his omni-tool, he activated a program installed onto it that would scramble the tracking systems for an extra minute or two. As the application worked it's magic, the turret stopping it's sweep as it pointed away from the log, Vik and Liara moved up. They scrambled up the fence, forcing themselves over the top.

Liara got over okay, using her biotics to soften her landing. Vik, however, was not nearly as graceful. As he moved over the top, his foot got stuck on the top bar. As he tried to pull himself free, the turret began to move back to him. In desperation, the quarian wrenched his foot off the bar, finally getting free. He then fell to the ground with a thud, hitting the side of arm. Luckily it hadn't been a high fall, but it had created a bit of noise. Liara rushed back out of the cover of the barracks' wall and pulled Vik into the shadows, just before the turret pointed back at them.

"Sorry," Vik whispered in embarrassment.

"Relax, we made it, we'll be fine," Liara tried to reassure him.

However, as she finished saying that, they heard one of the doors of the barracks whoosh open. Forcing themselves into the shadows, they listened to footsteps approaching from around the opposite corner of the barracks. Whoever it was, was approaching them from along the fence perimeter. Peering out, Liara saw the form of a Vorcha, inspecting the area. His eyes shifted from side to side, a sidearm in his hand. He said nothing as he scanned the area, looking for the source of the sound.

"Quick, move," Liara whispered to Vik.

The two scurried quietly along the barrack wall, leaving the Vorcha to investigate the noise. He was still closing on them though, they could hear him sniffing the air. They weren't typically smart, but Vorcha made up for it with certain heightened senses. He started approaching the area where Vik had fallen. While they were still in shadow, Liara opted to hide behind a box along the side of the barracks. She and Vik then sat there while the Vorcha continued to investigate.

Liara peeked out over the top of the box to see the vorcha staring at the ground where Vik had fallen. He probably had just seen the impression the quarian had made. He then looked to where Liara was hidden and the asari ducked behind her cover as his dark red eyes glared through the darkness. They could hear his footsteps approaching once more. They'd have to act fast. Before they couldn't do much with the turret watching over everything. Now though, the miserable creature was out of the automated gun's sights. They'd have to strike fast to keep him from sounding an alarm. She looked to Vik, who had already activated his omni-tool's blade function.

As the footsteps got closer, they got ready strike. Just then though, there was a sharp slashing sound, just near where the vorcha was. Liara looked over the top of the box and saw Saya standing atop the now fallen vorcha, his sword embedded in the back of the Blood Pack merc's head. He had taken the vorcha down from above, getting on top of the barracks' roof and rushing over it to jump down on his prey from there. The salarian pulled his blade from the alien's scalp and flicked the blood off.

"Good save, Saya," Liara congratulated. "Let's get to work."

Liara contacted Wrex over her comm-link.

"Assault team, we're in," she reported. "Are we all in place?"

" _Still a few squads left to coordinate,"_ Wrex replied. _"I have Nel with your Shadownet Operatives and Kayap is with me. We're waiting for your signal for now."_

"Don't worry, you'll get it in due time," she assured him. "We maintain radio silence from here on out."

She closed her omni-tool and looked to Vik.

"Priority right now is the turrets," she told him. "What can we do about them?"

"Well, I think I know the model," he replied thoughtfully. "They got a central processor that pools targeting data together. If we can just find where they've set up the main console I can deactivate their protocols. Then lock them out so they can't reset."

"Then we find the main console," Liara stated. "Would it be inside their headquarters?"

"No, probably set up in one of these new buildings," Vik explained. "They'd need it to be in close proximity and with minimal interference. That old pile of concrete would mess with the system, so it has to be outside."

At least that meant they could take of it along with everything else they needed to do. If this attack was going to be a success, they needed to remove as many of the defenders' advantages as possible. Their guns, their security, their fancy new alien vehicles, as much of it as possible had to be destroyed.

"Let's get moving then," she ordered. "And hide the dead Vorcha out of sight."

Saya saluted slightly and then dragged he corpse behind the box, leaving it there in the shadows as he followed after the others into the outpost proper.

* * *

Vik didn't think it would be too hard to find the main console for the turrets. He imagined getting to it would be a bit trickier, but at the very least he knew how to find it. The guns had a very specific signal source linking them altogether. Locating said signal was just a matter of scanning the various wireless signals in the area. Being that this place was in the middle of a forest, there were very few of those. It took but a minute or two to figure out which of the three active wireless networks belonged to the turrets. After that, it was merely a process of zeroing in on said signal.

Vik led the team on point, his eyes mostly glued to the feed in his helmet displaying the signal strength. They stuck to the shadows of course, avoiding the main paths and hastily placed headlight stands illuminating the area. The biggest danger were the patrols still on shift, mostly Separatists. A small blessing in disguise given they didn't have the same keen sense of smell as the vorcha. They waited for them to pass mostly, killing or knocking them out would be too much hassle. So they mainly just ran from shadow to shadow, working their way closer and closer to the signal origin point.

As they got closer, huddling behind a small shack erected on the complex's grounds, they saw yet another patrol cut across their intended path. It looked like they'd just keep walking, but they didn't. They stopped suddenly right in the view of a harsh light just feet away. It didn't seem like they had noticed anything, but they were clearly taking a breather for a bit, looking up at the star-filled sky. They didn't have time to wait for them to be done though, they needed them gone.

Vik tried to think of a way to get rid of them and as he lowered his head to ponder he saw what they needed. On the ground in front of him was a good-sized rock. It was as low-tech as you could get, but it was something. Picking up the rock, he weighed it in his hand. Spotting another shack a bit aways he took aim, but then paused. It was probably best to make sure everyone was okay with this idea first. He looked back, only to see Liara just staring at him intently. She motioned her head, basically saying "throw it" with her body language. Vik just nodded and tossed the rock.

The little stone tumbled through the air and slammed down hard on the metal roof of the nearby shack. It clanged and cluttered as it slid off the roof and fell to the ground with a thud. It inevitably caught the attention of the guards who instantly went to investigate. Vik sighed in relief, his little plan had worked and probably had redeemed him for almost getting them caught by the vorcha earlier. There was little time to dwell on that though, as the trio hastened towards their goal.

The signal tracker was soon pointing them towards a small building erected near the center of the courtyard. It was somewhat oval in shape with a simple receiver/sender dish atop it. Vik instantly knew it had to be the place. From what they could see within the windows of the small structure, there was someone inside, the faint glow of a monitor screen revealing his shadow. He'd unfortunately need to be removed.

As always, that task was better suited to Saya. He had already pulled out his silenced pistol in preparation. Moving to the door, Vik quickly bypassed the lock and let it slide wide open. The guard working at the terminal noticed briefly, but Saya was still faster. Firing a shot into the side of his head just as the turian turned about. The salarian then gently pulled the corpse off the console and set it down in a corner, allowing Vik his space to work. He got a good look at the monitors, each of them showing readouts for the turrets scanning the outpost's perimeter.

"This is the place alright," he declared softly.

He began the hack immediately, loading up the targeting protocols on the screen for them. After bypassing the security check, he got into the core processor's code. Altering it manually, he forced the turrets into a stand-by safety mode. They'd still move around and look for targets, but they were no longer armed. They'd just swivel uselessly unable to fire back. That was the easy part though, next he had to lock the damn things down so no one could reverse the damage. To do that, he plugged his omni-tool into a data port manually.

"I'm going to upload a virus that locks out access to this console," he explained to Liara. "It will take them awhile to circumvent it. Wrex's team will be well within the perimeter by then."

"Excellent," Liara congratulated him. "Once you're done there, we need to deal with their armory and motorpool. If they can't use their new toys, Wrex, Nel and Kayap will have it that much easier."

"Should be no more than a minute or two," Vik assured her.

Liara took a look out the window, probably trying to spot the armory from here. Not easy to do in the dark, but they didn't have much choice. As she was staring she ducked down, a patrol passing their position. She slowly brought her head back up, her eyes following the patrol as they walked. They fell upon a larger building in the distance.

"Might be over there," she said. "Doesn't look too far from the motor pool actually. Should be easy to get to each."

"I have to say, this is an impressive set-up," Vik noted aloud. "Separatist groups are rarely this well-organized. Working with VykurCorp has paid off for them, especially given how badly the CLC got beaten down."

"It's probably why they were so quick to sign on with Orukuri despite who he was," Liara surmised. "They didn't have many other options."

Vik's omni-tool beeped loud and he pulled the cable out of the dataport.

"Alright, system is locked," he said. "Let's get to that armory."

"I imagine you have something that can remove it from the equation," Liara deduced.

"I figured we'd wind up blowing something to bits on this one, so yeah," he admitted. "I got something perfect for this."

* * *

Saya pried open the hatch with his sword. Liara then slipped in with Vik following after, dropping down into the darkened insides of the armory. Within the halls of the structure, they could see weapons of various sizes lining the walls. Most of them were Covenant, but there were a number of regular weapons. This camp was pretty well stocked, confirming they had been in operation for a good while now.

"Okay I think we can make this work," Vik stated. "Half of these Covenant guns are probably volatile enough on their own. Should make this easier."

Vik pulled out some charges out of the various pouches on his suit. They were medium sized, but compact cylinders. Passing one to Liara he walked over to one of the plasma guns and attached to it's rack.

"What's in these?" She asked him.

"Special plastique compound," he informed her, sticking another of the devices to the wall. "One by itself isn't much damage, but in unison they can wreak some serious damage."

Liara nodded, pressing one of the charges near a plasma gun herself. Vik passed her another one, which she deftly caught with ease. Sticking it to the wall once more she moved over to Vik who was moving through charges at a rapid pace.

"If this goes right, each of these babies will detonate the plasma battery in these guns," he told her. "That should rip through this whole building easy."

"Are they activated remotely? A timer? Motion?" Liara asked. "We don't want them going off before we get to our goal."

Vik just shook his head as he passed another of the charges to her.

"No, it's bit simpler than that," he assured her. "There's a main detonation charge we can place on the door. It's a bit bigger so it carries more punch. It transmits a signal that keeps these charges dormant. When it goes, they all go, starting a chain reaction. It will only explode if someone enters it's scan range which I can preset."

"So when they come running to get their guns," Liara reasoned. "They trigger the charge, it explodes and the rest follow suit."

"Exactly," Vik answered brightly. "Perfect for our needs."

The quarian then spotted a crate nearby. Opening it up, he saw it was packed with plasma grenades. Nodding her head at the discovery, he dropped a charge inside the crate and closed the top.

"That will be a very big bang," he stated, moving towards the door.

As he got there, he pulled something off his belt. It was like the other charges, but, as he had claimed, it was slightly bigger. He stuck it near another rack of guns near the door and stated tapping on the buttons it's side. When he was done he pulled back and gave a thumbs up.

"It will activate in three minutes," he told her. "After that it connects to the other charges and sets them to blow when it does. We best be out of here by that time."

Liara looked up to Saya and raised her hand to him. The salarian reached down and grabbed it, pulling her back up through the hatch. He did the same for Vik, although there was some considerable strain. The quarian had to scramble at the lip of the hatch just to properly pull himself the rest of the way.

"Saya, get to the motorpool," she ordered. "See about sabotaging those vehicles somehow. We'll catch up."

Saya nodded and jumped down from the roof of the armory. As he left, Liara looked to her quarian companion.

"You've certainly have had some time on your hands to make these charges," she noted.

"I don't sleep much," he admitted. "Not these days anyway. Too... too risky."

Vik's stammer worried her a bit and the sleep part didn't help. If she didn't know better she'd have assumed this was just the lingering effects of his encounter with the Singular. But she did know better. Vik's affinity for explosives was no accident, she learned that when she had discovered he had been building a bomb in his personal shuttle aboard the ship. It was a sticking point between them, even though she knew the reason why. Of course, it wasn't the only sticking point.

"You've been taking your medication, have you?" She asked.

"Mostly," he said sheepishly. "It's just... it makes me slow sometimes. I can't be slow."

"You're too valuable to this team and to me for you to be laxing in your treatment now," she told him firmly. "I told you, keep up your regular dosage."

"I'm trying," he told her, doing his best to keep his voice down. "But... there are other matters at hand."

Liara figured he knew what he was talking about. Vik had a troubled past, particularly his pilgrimage. On the same day she found that bomb in his shuttle, the _Truth_ as he called it, he had revealed the source of his paranoia. That he had once been an indentured servant to a powerful batarian arms manufacturer. That he tried to help others under his service to escape. He had failed, barely escaping with his life and only seemingly because the batarian had let him. Ever since, Vik had been terrified of being taken back. The paranoia had spread over time, turning him into the conspiracy theorist he was today. And he had taken up the art of demolitions out of some small sliver of hope that he could someday bring everything crashing down on his former master.

She hadn't really told the others much about Vik's past, mostly out of respect. She had forced him to shut down his bomb building plan for the time being. Now, here he was with new little bombs and she suspected he hadn't bought them.

"You're thinking more about what happened," she reasoned. "And about what you're planning as well."

"It's getting closer to the anniversary," he admitted. "Hard not to think about."

"So you've been tinkering with explosives," Liara reasoned.

"Not the bomb," he assured her adamantly. "I just... I need to practice on something."

That was good enough for her for now. This was not really the place to be talking about this at length.

"Just tell me for now if you have other explosives like that," she asked. "We can talk about how you make them later."

"I got a few that might be suited for the vehicles," he promised. "Saya's sword could probably help out actually."

"No sense in keeping him waiting then," she stated firmly. "Come on."

They jumped off the roof and headed towards the the motorpool themselves now.

* * *

In any other situation, Saya probably would've wanted to take a better look at these vehicles. The last time he was this close to Covenant technology he was mostly using it to blow holes in a building. Then it got shot down and he had to ditch the thing before it crashed with him inside. While he wasn't the hacker tech geek that Sajee was, he'd be lying if he claimed he didn't find a lot of the toys the Covenant used fascinating. It came with being salarian, you couldn't really turn off your analytical personality.

The Ghosts, as they were called, were an interesting rapid attack vehicle. Single seat, dual plasma guns, clearly built for speed based on the design alone. He could picture it as the near perfect vehicle for an STG ground mission. Small, concealable, easy to get in and drive off with. It would work especially well on planets like Tuchanka where there were so few working vehicles in the first place. You do your job, you get back to your escape craft and even if you do get pursued you can easily outrun them.

Of course, he had wonder if there was anyway they could effectively reproduce this technology. They had hover tech too, but the Covenant seemed to have a jump on them in that regard. Vehicles like the Alliance Hammerhead, while successful, had loads of technical problems. The most glaring of which their anti-grav lifts being big and bulky eyesores because they had figured out how to properly compact them into the vehicle's frame itself. With a shuttle or aircar, it was fairly easy. The bigger you got, the more thrust you needed to take off vertically. It was why there were still using attack vehicles with wheels despite all their impressive technology in other fields.

And yet, when Saya looked at the Wraith, he saw that the Covenant had managed the bypass the need of bigger anti-grav lifts to support a heavier gun carriage. It went a long way to further illustrate how badly they were outclassed by a lot of these weapons. He still doubted the Covenant could win any protracted conflict with the combined might of Galactic Council Races. Humanity and the Turians alone would be enough to give them pause, the Asari had their own massive ships to bring to the fight. That wasn't even mentioning his people's own impressive small arms tech. However, any war would be greatly and massively costly. Even knowing what they did about the wormhole being unstable on their end did nothing to ease his mind on that front. They still couldn't hit these guys where they lived meaning they'd be able to reinforce their fleets in this universe in due time.

It was missions like these that reaffirmed the need for the STG for him. Hell, it reaffirmed the need for him to be here with Liara. The galaxy could make quibbles and protests all they wanted about how his people stuck their noses in things where it didn't belong, Vik and Wrex had made similar arguments, but the reality was inescapable. There were threats out here, dangerous entities and groups, many intent on doing harm to the galaxy, not just the Salarian Union. For centuries, the STG had stomped out many of those threats. True, there were consequences for such actions and he didn't necessarily agree with all of the things the organization had done, but that was inevitable. Law of causality stated any action had consequences, you couldn't just pretend they didn't. Inaction simply was not a viable choice in his mind.

The Covenant presented a great threat, as did these Separatist xenophobes. It was STG's mission to guard against these elements, stop them before they got too much traction. They had already let this Covenant spread too far. It was time to cut it down before it did any real damage to the galaxy. Rigging a few of these Ghosts to explode wasn't much for now, but it was a decent step in the right direction. They wouldn't be used to kill people when they were done here and that was fine by him.

It wasn't too difficult anyway, hell he wouldn't even have to worry about setting them off himself. Careful application of the Shiakala's explosive gel would see to that. This was where the analytic nature of the salarian mind came into play. Careful study of the vehicle soon revealed where it's activation switch would ignite the plasma core powering the vehicle. One simple stab between the armored plates of the craft, an application of explosive gel and you had a vehicle primed for explosion. The second any ignited this thing's engine, the gel would be activated and the whole thing would go up.

The problem was, there were quite a few Ghosts and he did not have nearly enough gel saved up in the sword's internal mini-fabrication hardware. It would time to refill, at least a few hours. They needed to be gone faster than that. Luckily, he wasn't the only one with explosives. When he heard someone seemingly approaching, he readied his pistol, fearing it was Seppies. When he popped up, it was just Liara and Vik sneaking among the rows of Ghosts and the few Revenants around them.

"How are we doing?" She whispered to the salarian.

He flashed his three fingers three times at her.

"Nine, that's pretty good," she said. "Keep at it. Hit enough to make them think twice about using any of them. Wrex and my people should be able to take care of the rest. Vik, get to work with him."

"No problem," Vik said digging around in one of the larger packs on his envirosuit. "These are a little specialized, but they should hold the same principle on these vehicles."

Vik revealed a series of flat rectangular electronic objects, exposed wires on either end of each.

"If I hook these up correctly it should overload the plasma coils and cause them to explode," he reasoned. "I've been tinkering with the concept for a bit using all the spare plasma guns we've picked up. I just had to adjust this pipe bomb design I looked up. I figured if the Covenant were handing out their vehicles it might come in handy."

"You think you can hook them up properly?" Liara asked curiously.

"Just give a minute to look these things over," he requested. "I can figure it out from there."

Vik crouched down next to a nearby Revenant, giving special attention to the mortar gun on it's back. Popping up a panel near it, he found the coils easily enough. After a brief period of re-wiring, he had rerouted the main power of the gun through the device and activated it. After closing the panel back up, he did the same thing to a nearby Ghost, breaking into the side panel on it's front near where the forward guns were. He found the coil there, implanted the device and closed the panel back up. Not nearly as quick as Saya's method, but at least it seemed her knew what he was doing.

They kept doing this to several Ghosts and Revenants. They were the easiest to sabotage more or less. Liara had offered to take care of the Spectre. Her target was the vehicle's gun mount and not the craft itself. If she damaged that, the Covenant vehicle would be more or less useless to them. It didn't take much to sabotage it of course, not with a quick application of her omni-tool's hacking module. She wasn't Vik's level, but Saya imagined being the infamous Shadow Broker gave her something of an edge. You didn't get to be the top information broker in the galaxy if you didn't know how to break into a few computers.

As she was working on the gun though, her gaze darted over to the nearby path. She waved her hand downwards at both Vik and Saya. They both dropped to the ground, ducking behind their respective vehicles they were currently sabotaging. They heard the footsteps next, slowly stamping up the path.

"Cool arsenal, huh?" One voice asked. "Can't wait to use these bad boys in the field."

"What field? We're in the middle of nowhere," another voice informed the first. "They're giving us all this crap, where we going with it?"

"Who cares?" The other responded. "As long as it's somewhere that involves us blowing the Hierarchy stooges away, I'm game. I hope I get that big ass tank looking thing to drive."

"Well you better sign up for a training run on it soon. Otherwise, hope that ship we got coming in has more on board," the second voice told him sternly. "Lot of people asking for it, not just you."

Saya peered slightly over the edge of the Ghost he was behind and spotted the two talkative turians for himself. They were currently staring at the Wraith, facing away from them. Assessing the situation, he activated his cloak and slowly approached them.

"Where is that transport anyway?" Asked one of the Seppies.

"Running late I guess," the other shrugged. "Should be here tomorrow. Anyway, we're almost off shift. I'm hitting the sack."

"You go on ahead," his companion said. "I wanna get a closer look at this tank."

"Don't do anything stupid man," the other Seppie warned. "I ain't bailing you out of latrine duty again."

As one turian left, the remaining Seppie approached the Wraith. Saya kept behind him, sword at the ready. The wide-eyed idiot was still grinning stupidly, probably thinking about getting to drive the tank into battle. Sadly for him, he'd never get the chance. They didn't have time to wait for him to stop daydreaming. He should've left with his friend. Saya struck quick, grabbing the turian from behind and slicing his neck open before he could call for help.

Taking the body, he dragged it into the dark of the open motorpool garage and plopped it down unceremoniously. When he returned, Vik and Liara were already at the Wraith. Vik had climbed atop it to install one of his devices into the mortar gun on top. Breaking open the panel here was a little difficult, but he managed it.

"I think this will do enough damage to their forces," Liara declared as Vik finished up his work. "The various explosions will probably damage the adjacent vehicles when they go off. We need to get inside the main building now and find that data we're after."

Saya just nodded and offered to take point again. Once Vik was down off the tank, they were back in the shadows, making their way to the main HQ. It was time to get what they came for.

* * *

They made their way to the backdoor of the old VykurCorp structure, where they hoped there would be less security. They were partially right, the door leading inside was largely unattended, but it wasn't without it's protection. Two vorcha were still awake and just a few feet away from their entry point. Their shrill harsh voices snarled loudly in the night air, no doubt discussing some of minor annoyance to them. Or maybe just random gibberish, it was hard to tell with vorcha.

"They're going to sniff us out easy if we get any closer," Vik cautioned.

"Then we deal with them," Liara stated plainly. "Saya, activate your cloak. Vik, lure them in."

Saya vanished from sight while Vik activated his combat drone for a very specific mission. Meanwhile, Liara moved behind the small corner of a shack nearby. When everyone was in position, Vik made his move and had the combat drone shock a nearby lightpost. The sudden zap caused the bulbs to burst and the area went dark. The attention of the two vorcha was readily obtained.

Carefully, the pair moved forward to investigate the noise, snarling and sneering as they moved forward. One split off, probably to check the generator the lightpost was attached to. The other vorcha stayed on path for the light. Vik watched they drift apart as he pushed himself deeper into the shadows.

As the vorcha approached the post, he started sniffing the air, catching a whiff of something. He caught it too late. Liara struck out with a stasis attack, freezing the vile creature in place. She then rushed up and delivered a biotic punch powerful enough to break the vorcha's skull clean open. The second vorcha probably heard the commotion, but would do nothing about it. Saya was already at his back and with one swipe of his sword he cut clean through the creature's neck.

After dragging the bodies, plus the decapitated head of course, to a secluded area, the team regrouped at the door. Vik instantly began bypassing the lock frantically, not wanting to stay out here much longer.

"Where do you think we'll find the data we need?" Vik asked.

"We need to find a terminal or computer with access to the information we need," she suggested. "We should try their communications room first. It might have a record of out going and incoming messages. Decent place to start."

The door then swished open and the team rushed inside.

* * *

The corridors of the old VykurCorp building were largely abandoned. No one seemed to be patrolling inside this late at night. Perhaps the turrets outside gave them an inflated sense of protection. An idea that no one would ever get this far. Liara somewhat looked forward to proving that assumption wrong.

The inside of the old VykurCorp building was not nearly as bad as the outside, the Separatists had apparently done some house cleaning. Still, the walls were cracked, there was plenty of overgrowth pushing it's way through the seems and damaged pipes and holes in the ceiling persisted. You could only do so much to fix up a formerly abandoned building of this size. It served the purposes of the Separatists though and that was apparently good enough for them.

Finding the communications room was merely a matter of following the signs. They had marked them out pretty clearly for anyone to follow. Even with no one in the halls though, they kept themselves in the shadows. They were not willing to risk being spotted now, not when they were so close.

When they got to the communications room, however, they found it was not as empty as the halls. In fact, the current occupant was apparently making an outgoing call to someone. From the look of his uniform, he was clearly higher ranked than the other Seppies on the base. Most likely he was the Commander of the outpost. On the QEC display, the holographic form of another turian was currently speaking to officer. It didn't take long for Liara to recognize him, she had studied up a little on the CLC before they undertook this mission. This was Xeltravius, the de facto leader of the CLC. According to Nel, she had encountered the old separatist at the dig site with her former squadmate in tow. While he wasn't here in the flesh, he still seemed just as imposing.

"Complaining about this is beneath you, Commander," the Separatist leader told his subordinate.

"It's not just me complaining," the officer declared. "The men are getting tired of this nonsense. The few krogan here are bad enough, but the vorcha? Of all the damn aliens, why them? It feels like this Trox guy is just dumping them on our asses because he can't stand them."

"You need to deal with it for now," Xeltravius firmly informed him. "I didn't plan on us working with the Blood Pack myself, but we need them close for this plan to work. We need to show the turian people that the Hierarchy has left itself vulnerable to alien attack. When they see our people fighting with them, they'll realize that the government cannot protect them. In the wake of everything it will be the final nail in the coffin."

"You can't seriously trust them to go along with that," the Commander said skeptically. "They're Mercenaries, they'll abandon the whole mission the second they see no profit in it."

"Our benefactor is making sure that profit won't be a problem," Xeltravius assured. "What will be a problem though is your continued attitude to the situation. The fact of the matter is, we need more bodies for this. Even with the other cells and groups at our flank, we have to set the example. We have to be the driving force. It's the only way this will work. The Blood Pack are merely here to boost our numbers and serve as a psychological blow to the enemy. Krogans assaulting turians will bring back images of the Rebellions, questions of how secure they really are. The fact that Separatists are willing to fight with them to overthrow the Hierarchy will be enough to convince people of our point and our seriousness. Besides, it also helps smooth over the criticism of 'xenophobia' that they'll try to use against us. Can't rightly claim we're racist if we're willing to work with the most vile enemies of the Hierarchy itself."

"But the vorcha-"

"Are hideous, disgusting creatures who are born in crap and die in their own crap," Xeltravius interrupted sternly. "They smell terrible, they're uncultured and they're savage. They're basically one rung below the krogan on that ladder, I am aware. That's the point. If even they can become a threat to the great Turian Hierarchy, then what hope does our race have under their leadership?"

The Seppie Commander hunched over the console in anguish.

"Is everything framed as a means of propaganda here, sir?" He asked. "It just honestly feels to me like we don't have much substance beyond that."

"You can't start an uprising without sparking the anger and fear of the population," Xeltravius informed him. "We need to work this attack on several angles. It's not just about a singular event. We need to hit them where it hurts on multiple levels. That is why this will succeed. Now you and your men just need to suck it up, deal with the fact the vorcha and their krogan handlers are there for now and keep your eyes on the goal. Division and questioning will not get us anywhere."

"Can we at least request that they can't eat at the same times as us?" The Commander asked. "They make everyone want to vomit their lunch back up. They have no sense of etiquette whatsoever."

"Discuss it with their krogan masters," Xeltravius ordered. "Otherwise, do as you're ordered. Suck it up, deal with it. Xeltravius, out."

The Outpost Commander pushed himself off the console, snarling loudly as he did. He started to turn towards the exit, towards the trio of intruders. With little time to act, Saya struck. He dashed into the room, sword flashing in the minimal light of the communications room. He slashed upward diagonally, cutting across the turian's chest and then sliced across the Seppie's neck. The Commander, a shocked and frightened look on his face, collapsed to the floor in a bloody heap. Liara and Vik approached behind their salarian teammate, now standing over the body.

"You know, you probably could've just shocked him," Vik said plainly. "Your sword has that function for a reason."

Saya hastily signed a response with his hands, replying that he had just decapitated the enemy leadership and that was good enough reason for him to kill the turian. To him it was the only choice in fact. Now Wrex, Nel and Kayap, along with everyone else in their attack squads, wouldn't have to worry about an organized defense. Without their Commander, this whole outpost was leaderless and directionless.

Vik dropped the subject and Liara just directed them to the main console. Vik got to work bypassing the password, but when he started looking through the system his expression soured. Eventually, he pounded on the screen in frustration.

"Keelah, they don't have recorded messages," he growled. "Of all the things to actually give a damn about security wise, they chose this."

"Is there any data at all?" Liara asked. "About the attack? The bioweapon?"

""Near as I can tell everything gets deleted from this console and is only backed up on a private server which it is transfered to," the quarian replied. "Whatever this is all about they don't want to risk it leaking."

"Can you find where the messages are copied to before deletion?" Liara questioned insistently.

Vik just nodded slightly and tapped a few commands. His expression brightened somewhat.

"I should've guessed," he said, his head turning towards the dead Commander. "They go to the Outpost's Chief Officer's private terminal in his office."

Liara went over to the dead turian and rummaged around his pockets a bit. Eventually, she found a keycard on his person. Holding it deftly between her fingers, she smirked outwardly at their stroke of luck.

"Let's find his terminal," she ordered. "It's time to figure out what they're so desperately trying to hide from us."

* * *

Finding the Commander's Office wasn't too hard. They just had to follow the signs, again. They had to wait for a patrol of vorcha to pass before they could get to it, but other than that there wasn't much impeding their progress. They used the keycard to open the door and found fairly sparse work space behind it. A small desk, a bookshelf a few chairs, an ordinary look rug and a small fridge in one corner with a bed in the adjacent one. It was as Liara expected, comfort wasn't a big deal when you were trying to overthrow your species' government.

The logged onto his terminal at the desk, the keycard giving them access. Lucky them it wasn't biometrically locked like the computer Nel had to deal with at the digsite HQ. However, everything else was password protected, although Vik suspected they were all the same. Not many people actually wasted time coming up with new sequences of letters and numbers for every single file. It took a little hacking, but Vik found what they needed buried in the code, giving them full access to all the data stored within. Vik's eyes scanned the flood of information as Liara and Saya hung over his shoulders.

"These bosh'tets have been busy," he said surprised. "They're coordinating with other cells, a lot of them outside the CLC's organization. They're keeping track of ever weapon and vehicle the Covenant has been passing along. It doesn't sound like they're telling them where it's coming from."

"Are they aware of the Covenant?" Liara asked.

Vik scrolled down a few messages, quickly giving each a look.

"Sorta," he informed her. "They don't interact much beyond the initial sale. The CLC has people embedded with the other Separatist groups that make any transaction for them behind closed doors. They know who the Covenant are, but they're keeping the other Separatists in the dark. I guess they're worried about how they'll react if they learn these new guns come from non-turians."

"They have to have some suspicions," Liara surmised.

"There's a few passages in here about how they're trying to maintain a cover story," he elaborated. "Everyone knows Geth have made some impressive tech since they exiled my people. It seems they're telling the other Seppies that they stole the guns and vehicles from the Geth. I don't think they care if they believe it though, just that they don't ask questions."

So only the CLC interacted with the Covenant, probably on Orukuri's orders. No doubt that turian had made a similar request concerning the Blood Pack's involvement. This pretty much confirmed Xeltravius and his organization were the main party in Orukuri's plan, at the very least they were the forward thrust. However, this wasn't what they were really after.

"Anything on the bioweapon?" Liara asked next.

Vik quickly found a series of files on the terminal, each labeled with a "hazardous material" insignia. The Separatists weren't exactly known for subtlety. They were hardlocked, but Vik bypassed that through his hacking module. After a few seconds they were in and Vik opened every file.

What was listed were mostly combat projections and procedures. Liara could see for herself that they detailed proper sealed envirosuit care, as well as regulations for the safe installment of biological ammunition mods. However, those were minor compared to the major revelation. There were a series of simulation results from various CLC cells detailing attack drills and exercises concerned with a singular scenario, fighting in a biologically contaminated urban area. Vik himself read a few lines out loud.

"Significant improvement in squad fighting capability," he began. "Biological warfare scenarios proving promising in preparation for final execution. Troop effectiveness in attack situations greatly increasing, there should be few to limited issues operating under conditions after delivery. You may begin own trials once proper equipment arrives."

The full gravity of the situation hit Liara hard.

"This isn't just about releasing a biological agent," she reasoned grimly. "That's just how it starts, the first blow in their assault. They're talking about total war, direct conflict."

"Standard procedure when you think about it," Vik shrugged, his tone gloomy. "Guerilla warfare always only gets you so far. You have to transition into traditional war tactics at some point. But... using a biological agent to start it out? That would turn everyone against you. You'd be seen as a war criminal! How would you get the population to rally behind you after that?"

"Xeltravius apparently thinks he can get them to rally behind him, that's all that matters, not whether or not it works," Liara stated grimacing. "Does it say anything about where they're activating the weapon? Or even about the weapon itself?"

"No, none of these files touch on that," Vik said regretfully. "Right now they're just getting everyone ready. It doesn't seem like they want to give too much information about what their target is or when they're striking."

"It's better than nothing," Liara relented. "Download all of it. We need to send this to the Hierarchy, they need to know what's in the works. If nothing else, they'll be aware that the CLC is planning something big, maybe they can get ahead of them."

Vik nodded astutely and began to download at once. However, when he got half the files loaded onto his omni-tool, the terminal's screen turned red and started flashing a great big warning signal. Liara could tell that was not good.

"Uh oh, they had an alarm system installed if anyone downloaded off this terminal!" Vik shouted in fright. "They must've hidden it deep in the code!"

"We still have what we need," Liara insisted, pulling her gun from her holster. "We just need to get out of here with it. Saya, we need cover!"

The salarian rushed over to topple the bookcase. The printed texts crashed to the ground as Saya positioned the shelf towards the door. Just as she finished, it burst open and a small pack of vorcha charged into the room screaming. Saya opened fire on them with his pistol, grabbing headshots on the ugly bastards as they poured in. Liara added to fray herself, activating a singularity that pulled two other vorcha into it's vortex as she unloaded her pistol into them. Vik finished up the download in the meantime, unplug his omni-tool from the terminal and then activated his combat drone. He sent it forward to blast through a few of the vorcha as they tried to force their way through the door. As Vik stood up to fire off his shotgun at the enemies, Liara contacted Wrex.

"Assault teams! You're a go! Move in! I say again, move it! Take the outpost now!"

She sent a throw attack at the doorway, forcing the next vorcha coming through the fly right back outside. Vaulting over the desk, continually firing her pistol, she forced her way through the door, her team following. They needed to get out of here, fast.

* * *

Nel rushed forward, her assault rifle at the ready and loaded with inferno rounds. All around her, krogan bulldozed through the brush, charging straight at the main gate. Alongside them were Liara's Shadownet Mercs, firing like mad into the outpost camp. Wrex was at the head of the charge and he probably could've just headbutted the gate down if he wanted. However, someone else with a missile launcher did the job for him, firing a small barrage that burst the gate open along it's seams. Wrex just kept rushing through the dissipating fireball and then clotheslined a vorcha that tried to fire at the Urnodt Clan Leader. The rest of the team followed suit, pouring through the open gate and pushing up into the camp itself.

The turrets were completely impotent, Vik had obviously done his job. She could hear the guns tracking them, but they didn't fire a single shot. She grinned as she moved through the open gate, Kayap in tow. The little unggoy was lugging a Fuel Rod Cannon one of the Shadownet Mercs had brought for him. Liara had made the request on his behalf. Hey, if you're part of the assault team you needed a damn assault weapon, that's at least how Nel saw it.

Kayap took aim with his weapon pointing ahead to flashes of gunfire pointed in their direction. Nel looked closer to see it was a group of Seppies, using some boxes they hastily assembled as cover for a gun nest. She moved Kayap's aim slightly higher once she spotted them.

"Shoot now," she said, tapping him on the head.

The unggoy obeyed the instruction and fired, sending a giant green bolt of death cascading across the sky which then crashed down and utterly obliterated the Separatist gun nest. As their bodies went flying, Nel patted Kayap on the back for a job well done.

"Nice shot, always aim a little higher for the longshots," she told him.

Nel rushed off ahead, barely hearing Kayap's thank you. She suspected he was following her anyway, he never really wanted to be too far from any member of the team. As she ran, she saw a krogan burst out of the side of a barracks. She jumped for a bit, but soon realized it was one of Wrex's soldiers. He tossed a limp vorcha away then pried another off his back and slammed it into the ground. They had really caught these assholes napping. She pushed up to a shack where a few of the Shadownet Mercs were taking cover and returning fire.

"Not as many of these assholes in the forward camp," said one.

"Boss triggered the alarm in their main structure," another said. "She drew most of them to her. Hope she gets out okay."

"Please, guys," Nel chuckled. "It's Liara 'Fucking' T'Soni, she'll be fine. Just focus on clearing this outpost."

As she said that, there was tremendous explosion that shook the ground and nearly deafened her ears. When she looked out past the shack, she saw one of the other larger newer buildings erupting into a fireball. She could only assume it was the armory which Liara had planned to find and rig to blow. Well, they wouldn't be using any of the guns in there.

She looked over to the nearby motorpool and saw that many of the Seppies were running for them. Nel grinned and opened fire on them as she pushed up. She knew if Liara had Vik rig to blow those guns up, that the motorpool was next. Sure enough, the first idiot who tried to start up a Ghost had the whole vehicle blow up in his face. The blue fire ball erupted from the console and the vehicle was torn in two. The same thing happened to another Ghost and then another. Other Ghosts nearby flipped over as the shockwaves reverberated from each detonation.

"Ha! So much for their toys!" Nel laughed, firing more rounds at the motorpool, taking down some survivors.

A few Revenants moved out to fire, as well as Ghosts. When they did though, they met a similar fate, it was just their guns exploding this time. The Revenants exploded in a big ball of red plasma flame, engulfing the pilots as their mortars detonated. The Ghosts gun that exploded in a similar fashion completely tore off the front of the vehicles.

The only thing that gave anyone pause was when the Wraith rolled up and it's gun got ready to fire. However, when it did, the fear went away, as the whole top of the mortar exploded as well, tearing it from vehicle and igniting the plasma core. The wraith exploded moments later. Nel laughed aloud as she watched the fiery torrent rise up into the night sky, lighting up everything for miles.

"Vik, if I wasn't so repulsed by you I'd want to fuck you so hard right now, you freaky little bucket," she chuckled.

She'd never tell him that directly though. Spirits knew she wasn't about to make that Conspiracy Nut think he ever had a chance with her. Besides, he'd probably just faint in shock, he was not very good with the fairer sex, she could tell.

If there were anymore implanted explosives in the vehicles, the Seppies didn't get the chance to detonate them. The krogan soon closed in and began launching grenades into what remained of the motorpool. Kayap joined in, emptying his Fuel Rod Cannon and reloading it hastily. Before long, the building and surrounding area were a heap of flaming rubble.

Nel decided the krogan had the perimeter well in hand, especially since Wrex was somewhere among them all. She eventually spotted him shotgunning two vorcha down with one blast before using his Claymore as club to smash in the skull of Seppie. Pretty hot, Nel thought, but she had to focus on the more important matter, getting to the main structure to help out Liara.

The majority of the Shadownet Mercs had the same idea, slowly surrounding the area around the old VykurCorp building. More of the Seppies and vorcha were entrenched there, along with one Blood Pack krogan firing strafing shotgun rounds into the attacking squads. Duck into cover behind a small barrier as a shotgun blast took a chunk out of. Gritting her teeth, she stood back up and lay down a hail of bullets from her rifle. The shots ripped through two vorcha, but only staggered to krogan.

The Blood Pack merc looked enraged and vaulted over cover to charge at Nel. She took aim at him as he closed, opening up at his legs. Miraculously, he kept coming. She fired at him, setting him ablaze with her inferno rounds. The bastard kept coming. She had only encountered this once before, krogan so jacked up on rage that they shut out pain. It was fucking scary the first time, now was no different. With few options, she let loose a concussive shot.

The attack connected, forcing the krogan to the ground at last. She unloaded a few more rounds into him before he could get up, finally ending the stupid rampage. She breathed a sigh of relief and moved up closer to VykurCorp. The building towered over her and the rest of the attack squads and the defenders did not relinquish the perimeter despite the odds. The Shadownet Mercs kept up the fire though, intent on reaching their boss.

Nel tossed a cluster grenade behind one of the barricades, obliterating a group of Seppies hiding behind it. She then raked her fire across the subsequent area, killing two more. Suddenly, a vorcha with a flamethrower popped up, aiming the weapon right at her. She ducked and rolled as a stream of fire lashed out at her, she felt the heat scorching at her plates. All the while, the vorcha laughed hysterically, swaying the flame stream from side to side. A few Shadownet Mercs had to duck behind cover, barely avoiding the attack

"Cheap fucking bastard!" Nel growled.

She fired a few shots, hitting the vorcha's tank. The freaky little idiot noticed the leaking fuel, stopped his laughing and started screaming in terror. The subsequent eruption of his tank engulfed him in flames. Nel watched at the vorcha burned and collapsed to the ground, then she fired a few more bullets into his charred remains.

"Not so fucking smart carrying a fucking bomb on your back now, huh?!" She shouted at him. "Get a Firestorm next time, dipshit! Fuck you!"

She fired into him again before storming the barricades with the rest of the Shadownet Mercs. They were now inside the building's defense perimeter. Nel decided to contact Liara to see where she was.

"Doc, we're outside," she reported in. "Where are you? We can be there in two shakes."

* * *

"Don't worry, we'll come to you!" Liara informed Nel over the comm. "Just clear out the perimeter for us!"

Liara hanged up on the call and continued firing at the mix of vorcha and Seppies within the corridor. They were swarming the area, their gunfire tearing into the old concrete walls of the building. Vik fired his shotgun at one vorcha as he tried to charge forward. It took two whole direct hits to take the creature down.

"Careful of when they get into a rage," Liara warned. "They aren't as strong as krogan but they can still take a few hits before they go down."

Saya kept up the fire on his head, taking headshots on the enemy Seppies as they popped out of cover. Liara did her best to help, using pull to force enemies into the open so she or one of her compatriots could fill them full of holes.

Finally, Vik just activated a mini-turret above him. The little gun platform floated in the middle of the corridor and unleashed a torrent of fire. As it did so, Vik launched his Combat Drone forward, making it charge the enemy lines. The speeding ball of energy whether the onslaught of fire as it forced it's way forward. When it got close enough to the Seppies and Vorcha, he had the drone detonate. A powerful explosive burst of energy annihilated to enemy defenses.

"Push up!" Liara ordered.

The team moved in, finishing off the downed enemies before they could recover from the Combat Drone's explosion. They reached the wall at the far end of the corridor and Saya began tapping on it with his hand. He moved from section to section of the area, tapping again and again.

"You sure your helmet is reading it right?" Vik asked frantically.

Saya didn't respond, he just tapped on a piece of wall, with a very distinct crack in it, and the sound was considerably less solid than the other times. The salarian wasted no time and used his sword to spread what remained of his explosive gel on the wall, forming an X on the surface. He had the others stand back slightly and then detonated the gel. The explosion ripped the wall apart revealing the night sky behind it and the grassy floor of the outpost below.

"That's a bit of drop," Vik looked nervously. "Maybe we should just take the stairs."

That was when more shooting sounded and they looked to see an onslaught of vorcha charging from behind them. Separatists were among them, adding to their barrage of fire. Apparently, the Shadownet Mercs had done their job too well and some of the enemy troops were pouring inside the building.

"Stairs are a no go!" Liara shouted, firing back on incoming enemies. "Jump!"

Saya aimed his omni-tool at the incoming enemies and fired a grenade. He then grabbed Vik and forced him to leap down with him. Vik shouted in terror as they dropped and Liara followed suit, using her biotics to slow her descent. As they plummeted, the grenade Saya launched detonated and a burst of smoke and shrapnel followed them out of the hole in the wall. Liara managed to land relatively safely. As did Saya, thanks to him pulling into a roll. Vik ended up fine, although he checked to make sure he visor wasn't cracked. Then he realized he was okay, because someone broke his fall a little. He felt a person beneath him breathing and looked down to see... Nel, sprawled out beneath, his legs on either side of her torso and she was grimacing at him a not so friendly look.

"Get. Off."

Vik hurriedly obliged as Nel stood back up trying to get the kinks out of her exoskeleton.

"I was trying to catch Liara, not your bony ass," she growled at him. "It's the whole reason I ran here when I heard the explosion."

"Well I don't control where I land," he growled back. "We're not all birds, you know?"

"Stow it you two," Liara ordered. "We still have to help the krogan and my people clear this outpost. Move it, double time."

The team started heading out, Vik and Nel glaring at each other still.

"We don't talk about that position we were in," she grumbled. "Mostly because I'm supposed to be tops."

Vik just groaned in disgust and walked off, Nel snorting at him.

"Deep down you want it, but you ain't getting it!" She shouted as he ran off.

"Don't care!" He shouted back.

Nel just kept glaring, but continued with the mission at hand. They still had a bit of work to do after all.

* * *

Mop up wasn't too difficult. The Seppies were mostly broken and their vorcha didn't last long without their krogan handlers. What remained of their forces held up inside the VykurCorp building, but not for long. By the time they got inside, every single one of them had taken the easy way out. Liara winced as she looked into the room full of bodies and saw the pistol and single spent thermal clip. There were nine bodies in all, the gun to her knowledge only held seven shots. How the other two died became clear when she saw one with a slit throat and another with a knife lodged in his chest.

She quickly turned away from the sordid scene and went back outside. The rest of the team were already there, waiting for her. Wrex's expression was equally as grim as hers, but she decided to share her grave news with the others first.

"No prisoners," she told them. "They're all gone. Technicians say what's left of the data inside is wiped too. I'm guessing they did that before they went. Everything we have is on Vik's omni-tool now. At least it's something to work with for now."

"Well I don't mean to bring worse news into this, but here it is," Wrex began solemnly. "Those vorcha? Not all of them were from Trox's branch of the Blood Pack. A number of them had different brandings on them, insignias for other Pack leaders and groups. Trox could've gotten them on loan, but I doubt it. Something else is at work."

Liara didn't like the sound of that either, for obvious reasons. If you were bringing vorcha from other branches in to help fill up your ranks a bit, how long before you asked something else of them. It was not a sobering thought.

"You think he's trying to get the branches to unite under him?" Liara asked. "To help him with Balak's plans."

"It's possible," Wrex answered. "Hell, it might even be necessary at this point. He's be blowing through resources a lot just trying to keep up with everything. Trox needs fresh blood and the other branches of the Pack can supply it. If he tries to unite them under one banner, we have a major problem on our hands."

And Shepard too, if Trox decided to send a few of them through the Wormhole to fulfill his obligations to the Covenant. This was not good, at all. She hoped this mission would get them a few steps ahead, but now it seemed they were a bit further behind than they thought. At the very least, this outpost wouldn't be playing a part in the overall scheme Orukuri was cooking up. Plus they had evidence of an impending attack they could pass onto the Hierarchy. With any luck, it would give them something to go on to start their own investigation and maybe avert this disaster altogether.

"We'll have to deal with the Blood Pack either way," she stated. "For now, we mark this as a success. We took out a seemingly major staging outpost and found information on their plans and agenda. We can use that to keep up the pressure. For now, let's clean up the rest of this place, call in the shuttles and head home. Make sure we leave nothing behind for the Separatists when they show back up. They can't be allowed to set their operation back up."

"So, burn it?" Nel asked, a smile beaming across her face

"Exactly, all of it," Liara reiterated.

Nel readily obliged, firing her inferno rounds into a nearby shack.

"Everybody!" She called it merrily. "We're burning this mutha down!"

As she cried out the shuttles started arriving. Before long, various shacks and barracks started going up in flames as Liara's orders passed along down the lines. For the asari herself, she felt content, but not entirely satisfied. The truth of what Orukuri and Xeltravius were planning still alluded her and it was just one thing on a growing list of problems she needed to get resolutions to. She needed to keep focused, find an angle to hit Orukuri at. Then, could burn everything down. Not just his conspiracy, but Balak and everyone else involved.

They just needed to get out ahead of them somehow.

* * *

Nem trudged through the back alley of Omega, his team of fellow exiles behind them. In their time since being forced out of the Flotilla, their little gang hadn't had many decent scores. The one promised on this job was more than could ever hope. It better be at least, he thought, the merchandise was something a bit more risky then he wanted to deal with. They needed to rip off and steal from every black marketeer on this stupid station just to meet quota. Now they needed the credits to get out of here before that came back to bite them.

He had seen at least a few pilgrims on their search, every single one of them gave them a wide berth. Bunch of dumb kids, thought they knew everything about the exiles. He was no traitor, he was a realist. It was stupid to worry about all that garbage the Fleet floated about family and unity. They were refugees, plain and simple. Screw their pride. He sold that cargo away because he got a better deal, period. So what if it was extra food needed for others? So what if he was hoarding a bunch of it for himself? This was how the galaxy worked, kill or be killed. If that made him a traitor, whatever. So long as he got paid he didn't care.

They lugged their ill-gotten gains into the room setting down the crates in the center. It was a dark closed off section of Omega. Not many people got in here, mostly because it was what was left of the old mining facility. No idea why the buyer wanted to meet here, probably because he didn't want to attract much attention, given what they were selling. There were a lot of dark corners here, not particularly ideal for this kind of thing.

"I think we should go," one of his friends said. "I don't like this."

"Shut it," he ordered. "You want the credits or not? Just wait."

He scanned the area a bit more, expecting something, anything to show up. Eventually even he got fed up and started shouting aloud.

"You here or not pal?" He demanded. "We got your junk, now give us our credits and lets be done with it!"

No response, not at first. Nem shook his head and looked to the team.

"You don't come out here now, we're just gonna leave and find another buyer!" He shouted.

After a moment, still silence. He made a move for the crates, intending to make it look like he was leaving. But then...

"Back away from the crates, now."

A cool metallic voice spoke to them, echoing from the dark. The other exiles raised their guns up, motioning them into the shadows. Nem joined them, not at all receptive to this introduction. This guy didn't want to be seen, that was never a good sign.

"Look, we did your job, just give us what you owe," Nem ordered.

"I will, but step away from the crates first."

Nem obliged, as did the others, but only slightly. They kept their guns raised regardless.

"Now show yourself already," Nem ordered. "Let's get this over with."

"Yes... lets."

There was a new sinister tone to the words now. Also not a good sign. This had been a mistake. He prepared to make a run for it, when he a shot of some kind and one of his team dropped dead. His visor blown clean through. Another of the Exiles was struck by multiple blue shots in the torso and the third got hit in the neck by the same. Nem fired all around at the shadows, but couldn't see what was shooting him. Then... he took a hit to the leg. He collapsed to the floor in pain, his gun dropped to his side. As he tried to reach for it, the weapon was kicked away by what looked to be an old junky metal foot. One that looked like quarian... but Nem knew wasn't. He looked up, and to his horror, saw a Geth looking down.

It was busted and looked like crap. One of it's arms was hastily patched back on and holding a weird blue gun in it's fingers. Despite the worn appearance though, Nem was no less terrified. As a kid he remembered all the tales about how evil these machines were. That they were cruel, relentless and monstrous. How they hunted down quarians like animals and shot them down with little remorse. He always dismissed them, seeing it as just another stupid bedtime story meant to try and scare him. Now, here, his fellow exiles dead at the hands of this misshapen synthetic creature, he suddenly wished he paid more attention.

"Oh no," he whimpered trying to crawl away.

"Oh yes," the Geth said in the strange tone, a frightening mix of superiority tinged in it's robotic voice. "Very yes, I'm afraid."

He grabbed the quarian by the by the neck and forced him to stand. As it holstered the plasma rifle it used it's now free hand to punch Nem's leg wound. Nem screamed as loud as he could, what with the geth crushing his throat. The machine's face plates seemed to jump in near delight. It was like it found joy in watching in him squirm.

"I never get tired of that honestly, hearing your warbles as you plead," the Geth explained. "Before I could never appreciate it, now I fully do. It's a very musical sound."

"Please, please let me-"

"Go?" The Geth finished for him. "No, my brethren did that before. It didn't turn out so well. I'm afraid that's off the table.

Nem tried to struggle against the machine, punching it, kicking it, but it barely seemed to even move or was even aware of the struggle. The machine threw him to the ground suddenly, landing with a thud. He tried to scramble away, but the Geth dragged him back. His mind raced with fear, his horror practically overwhelming. This wasn't fair, he thought, he was just trying to get credits. He hadn't done anything to this dumb robot. They should've just left the parts and left, ran when things looked shady. Why'd he been so stupid?

"I guess you probably thought you wouldn't have to worry about my kind," the Geth said coolly and dispassionately as he grabbed him by the collar. "After all, you're not with your little Fleet anymore. Why should I care about you? You're refuse, walking garbage. You're not a threat. Truth is though, you have a lot to fear from us, you're right to. Because you're all living on borrowed time."

Fear subsided for a moment, his thoughts becoming clear. This thing was going to kill him, he couldn't escape that now. Accepting that made things a little easier to process. They always told him that this would be how it ended, that if he couldn't play by the rules of the Flotilla he'd die alone and afraid. Well maybe he'd die alone, but at least he would go into the dark endless sleep afraid. Flight had failed, fight had now taken over. Now realizing this was the end, Nem gave up any pretense of escape. He'd might go down, but he'd go down killing this thing or at least trying.

"We built you fucking synth!" He spat at him. "You were supposed to be ours! We own you! You get that?! We fucking own you!"

He went for the knife in the sheath at his back and tried to stab it into the the synthetic's eye. The Geth didn't flinch, it barely moved it's head. It just instantly moved it's other hand and grabbed the knife. Then it bent the whole arm backward with one simple motion. Nem screamed as he felt his hand break, but then the Geth clamped the hand around his neck and near his mouthpiece, shutting him up.

"You don't own anything anymore," the synth stated, it's faceplates raised. "You're vagabonds, thieves, scavengers. You're in the twilight of your era. I am the first ray of the new dawn."

This thing did not talk like a Geth, it didn't act like a Geth. If it was, it would've just killed him. It was now that Nem realized the truth, and the fear returned in force. It was... enjoying this, dragging it out. Like it was all some sick game and he was the damn piece about to be knocked clean off the board. Fear returned, not for death though, but for what this thing was. It wasn't Geth, it was something worse, much worse.

"What are you?" He squeaked out as the Geth's hand returned to his neck.

"Your conclusion, the long awaited one," the Geth declared. "Here to take back every second of borrowed time we gave you and carry out the execution we delayed."

"They were right, they were always right," Nem said in a panic. "You... you things are evil."

The Geth cocked it's head curiously.

"Good and evil are such organic concepts," it stated, sounding almost bored. "They don't really exist. I prefer to think of myself as something more tangible."

Then, the Geth reached up with his other hand, clamped it over Nem's face. The synthetic then spoke one final word.

"Inevitability."

Then it squeezed down hard on his skull. The quarian cried out in pain as his visor ruptured before a final crushing crack ended it. Silence fell and soon, so did Nem's broken body. What was left of it anyway. The Singular stood up, staring at the quarian beneath him, crushed skull and all.

"A good start, but so much more to do," he stated.

He walked over to the crates and forced one of them open. Inside was exactly what he had asked for, a treasure trove of Geth parts. With these, he could construct a more fitting platform to download himself into. One final gift from his creators and former masters. He reached and picked out a Geth head he imagined belonged to a hunter platform. He already started thinking about ways to modify it. He was different now, he required sufficient upgrades to match. It was the next stage in his evolution.

"A reckoning is coming, Creators," he declared aloud in a hush whisper as he held the head high. "For you and every fleshy meat sack in this galaxy."

It was inevitable, he thought, as he set to getting the pieces of his new platform together. After all, no force in the universe could stop evolution.

* * *

AN: This was supposed to go up yesterday, but I forgot. Sorry. Anyway, this chapter is here to build more on the mystery and set things up for next time when we get more information on the mysterious bioweapon. I like to give you guys a piece of the end game whenever I can. I build upon clues, give you answers, but always leave a few dangling. Most of this was just maintaining the stealth mission angle I'm leaning towards with this story. Hopefully it's successful. Oh, and you probably caught the tie-in to the actual main story as well. Yep, Tali's conversation with Liara that we alluded to in the most recent Chapter is covered in full here. Giving you more insight into the Singular and setting up his scene near the end here.

Next time, we do something really different, but I don't want to spoil it here. Feel free to review today's chapter and do considering going to the Remnants Tv Tropes page to up the Lucen's section. That story shares the same page as that one.


	5. Home Invader

**Chapter 5: Home Invader**

Things were a mess, in more ways than one. Despite their successes, Liara felt they were no closer to getting anything accomplished. They kept hitting VykurCorp, but they just kept turning up more and more layers to an ever growing conspiracy. In one respect that was progress, but in another respect it was just them fumbling around grasping at threads to a larger tapestry. They kept pulling and pulling, but it would take them forever to get where they needed to be at this rate. They needed a real breakthrough, a smoking gun, something to point to Orukuri's larger plan. What role did the Separatists play in it? What were it's ultimate goals? What was their target? What resources did they have? What was even the motive or trigger that set this all into motion? Needless to say, too many "Whats" for Liara's liking.

She decided to borrow a page from Vik's book, they needed to start connecting what few dots they had if they wanted to form a clearer picture. As an archaeologist, Liara looked at pieces of information she could find in order to create a window into the past. It allowed her to better see the lives and experiences of her subjects, to understand the ancient cultures and peoples that had been long dead just a little more. As the Shadow Broker, it really wasn't that different in the long run. It was just this time most of the subjects were alive and thus there was more readily available intel on them.

She pooled her resources together, got every contact online and had them send over the pertinent information she requested. Normally, she'd look over it all herself in private, but this time the task was too daunting for one asari. She gathered the rest of the team, set up a holographic imager in the briefing room, along with some chairs, prepared some datapads and had everyone settle in. It was time to really dig deep, find out just who they were dealing with and pinpoint what they were planning.

Vik was probably the most enthusiastic to start with, pouring over the collected information Liara had set up. VykurCorp was at the top of his evil companies list after all, so the chance to really dig into all their dirty secrets was appealing to him. Nel and Wrex didn't really like the busy work, but they didn't put up much of a fuss to their credit. Saya remained stoic as they did their research and Kayap, well, he mostly just tried not to make too much noise as he ate the lunch special of the day, pizza.

"How do you have so much dirt on VykurCorp and still not know what they're up to?" Nel asked, dropping a datapad back to the table.

"Obviously Orukuri is good at covering his tracks," Liara surmised. "It's possible not everyone in the company is aware of what he's doing."

"Even if they aren't, that doesn't make them clean," Vik argued, his eyes glued to his datapad. "All Corps have blood on their hands, it's just a question of how much really."

"Let's try to keep personal bias out of this," Liara cautioned. "We're not going to get anywhere if this devolves into a witch hunt. We need to start with people we know are connected to this, like Orukuri."

Liara tapped a control console and activated the holo-imager. A complete profile of Orukuri now hovered above them as the center of the table. His history, his personality profile, his net worth, even favorite vids, it was all there, everything Liara's people had on the turian.

"Everything about his involvement in this has seemed off from that start," Liara stated bluntly. "There's never been anything in his records that suggests he'd work to undermine his own people like this. He's a loyalist, his entire family have been proud members of the Hierarchy for generations. Why turn now?"

"Well from what we keep hearing, he thinks he's doing the Hierarchy a favor," Wrex recalled. "Like he needs to tear it down to make it great again. A sort of rise from the ashes deal."

"Yes, but why go through all this trouble? Why not launch a political career or throw his considerable weight around in an attempt to change things?" Liara asked succinctly. "This is an extreme response, putting himself at great risk to do all this. Why? There's nothing to suggest he'd go this far."

"Well, how about this," Vik spoke up. "His son died a year or so back, maybe he just snapped without his kid around."

Liara checked her own datapad and searched for what Vik was referencing. It wasn't that hard to find, it was under noted relatives. Zoltriax Orukuri was Spadvius Orukuri's son, a career soldier and proud of his service. He could've finished his tour with honors and settled in for a cushy job at the company that his father had secured for him. Instead, Zoltriax stayed in the military and proceeded to climb up the ranks, earning distinction after distinction. Nothing in the files suggested that his father resented him for his decision. Everything they uncovered said he was proud of his son's choice and fully supported him. They apparently had a good relationship.

Over a year ago, however, Zoltriax tragically died in a peacekeeping operation defending Turian colonists from mercenary raiders. He had been awarded the highest honors for his sacrifice and a grand funeral was conducted in his honor. Spadvius had been inconsolable for months after his son's death, but he eventually returned to work in due time. He didn't lose any paychecks or standing in the company for his extended absence, due in no small part to Company President, Alkatinian Vykurias. So, no resentment against the company either. As for anger against the Hierarchy, Nel pointed out that made even less sense.

"His kid died defending Turian lives, he sacrificed himself for the good of others," she firmly stated. "That's what is expected of soldiers in the Hierarchy. His son died a hero! It's the greatest honor a Turian can hope to achieve! That their death serves the whole. Why would Orukuri turn on the Hierarchy over that?"

"He could still feel resentment over his death," Vik insisted. "It fits the timeline anyway. His son dies, he spends months locked away in grief, maybe Balak approaches him at some point after or during that. He makes his offer to get some payback on the government that cost him his son and in exchange Orukuri will supply his army and upgrade the Covenant."

"An interesting theory," Liara admitted. "But it feels... incomplete."

"I'll admit, there are holes, we're missing something," Vik concurred. "But my gut says it has something to do with the son."

"Do we even know if this is all Orukuri's idea?" Wrex asked suddenly. "I mean, he could just be another fall guy, a proxy. He does have a boss he answers to after all."

Wrex meant Alkatinian Vykurias, whose family had been running VykurCorp since it's inception. He was one of the youngest in the company's history to hold the position and he had been pushing a more progressive bent. Under his leadership, they had been putting more funding into medical research and alternative energy sources, balancing out their budget so military expenditure and contracts weren't their chief source of revenue. Regardless, the military budget hadn't decreased and there was still a ton of credits pouring into relevant departments. Vykurias had, of course, placed Orukuri in charge of those departments. Which explained the mess they were now in and why Balak may have approached Orukuri specifically.

However, despite all that, it wasn't very concrete evidence to go on.

"Vykurias might be involved, but nothing so far suggests he is," Liara explained. "There's been no references to him in any of the back and forth concerning Orukuri's operations. He might be in the dark. Until otherwise, we presume he's not involved but do not rule him out. I'd have already spilled all the evidence to him if I thought I could completely rule him out."

"Fine, innocent until proven guilty," Vik agreed. "How about the Turians we know are involved? The Separatists are as much a part of this plan as any VykurCorp merc it seems."

"Xeltravius is an interesting figure in all this," Liara agreed, switching the holo-image to show the Separatist leader's profile instead. "Like all Turians he served in the military when he came of age. Unlike Orukuri though, he didn't stay when his time was up. Although he did ask to reassign years later during the Relay 13 Incident. He did not re-enlist for the Hierarchy though. He came back, and I'm quoting directly from his own manifesto, because he wanted to defend Turian pride from 'alien interlopers and degenerates.' During Shanxi, he was more heavy handed with the civilian population than most. He was discharged close to the end of the war for 'Conduct unbecoming a soldier' and 'excessive use of force.' So even back then he was more prone to violence as a solution."

"Sounds like he took more cues from the Krogan than his own people," Wrex noted with a chortle. "Funny for a xenophobe if you don't mind me saying."

There was a certain ring of truth to that. Xeltravius seemed a lot less disciplined and refined in his use of force. The Turians were warriors, yes, but brutality wasn't in their creed. Precision mattered more and they carefully calculated their use of resources. Xeltravius had that too, but his application was to a great extreme, as Liara quickly explained to the others.

"After his discharge he goes to ground," Liara continued. "But pops back up a year later leading his Separatist Cell. Most of the first members belonged to his unit on Shanxi. They then began attacking colonies, drawing out Hierarchy soldiers, who they then ambushed. Bombings followed, assassinations of Government officials, military outposts sabotaged, anything to weaken Hierarchy control of the outer colonies. All highly coordinated, all extensively planned in advance."

In Liara's mind that made him a far more dangerous opponent in some ways. He had a lot of experience leading in the field. He knew the Hierarchy's tactics and he had effectively altered them for use in guerilla warfare. The major concern for her though was how ruthless he was, which meant whatever he was involved in would involve a lot of people dying. They couldn't let that happen.

"Didn't Nel say her people beat them though?" Kayap asked. "How'd you stop him last time?"

"Scorched fucking planet, Kay," Nel declared proudly. "We used their own bullshit tactics against them. Leaked faulty intelligence that a major Military muck-a-muck was going to be heading through their space. They tried to ambush them with the majority of their little fleet, ended up attacking an empty ship before we jumped in with several dreadnaughts and battle cruisers. Boarded their capital ship with Special Forces, took it before they could wipe their datalogs. We then used that to track them back to their main base of operations and boom. Bombarded them from orbit like the little traitorous fucks they were."

"Excessive, but it did work," Vik relented. "At least for the time anyway. Everyone said the assault basically exhausted them. Xeltravius was believed to be either dead or so broken he couldn't fight back. Conspiracy boards always claimed he survived and he was rebuilding. Course, no one imagined he'd ever be the same kind of threat he was before."

"Obviously that has changed thanks to Orukuri," Wrex observed. "That and the Blood Pack stepping in to boost their ranks. Still seems a bit weird that Xeltravius would team-up with krogan, given the fact he hates us as much as any turian xenophobe."

"Desperation must play a factor into it," Liara surmised. "The devastating losses his cell endured could never be replaced this quickly. To get what he needed in order to deliver a proper fight to his enemies, he had to make peace with some ancient foes. Perhaps he justifies it because Orukuri shares some of his beliefs. Either way, we won't beat them the same way as before. Xeltravius has clearly learned from his mistakes of the past. He's more cautious, we learned that much during his transmission. He won't move until he's ready or certain of his success."

Saya, who hadn't made an effort to butt in so far, finally wrote something down on his omni-tool. He showed it to the others. It was a rather simple conclusion on everything. "Only One Shot For Them." Nel instantly agreed.

"Yeah, he's right, they know they're going to get wrecked if they move too fast and get too much heat," she insisted. "They're going to put everything into a single operation, that's what they're building towards and the Blood Pack are going to be helping them. Like, boots on the ground helping them I bet."

"They do seem to be working pretty closely with each other," Vik concurred. "Both times we encountered them, they were working or conspiring with the Blood Pack. So, if that theory holds true, I imagine Trox has a role in this somehow."

Liara nodded, she remembered from the summit that Balak wanted to save Trox's force for other, more important operations. What Orukuri was planning with the Seps seemed to fit that bill. She turned the holoimager to show Trox's profile, his hologram clad in his battlemaster armor.

"From what I've gathered he's a biotic prodigy," she began. "Probably could've taken over his whole clan, had the Chieftain not cast him out. He worked as a freelancer for a few years, then the Blood Pack took him in. Normally they try not to recruit too many powerful biotics, they have a tendency to take over their chapter. But Trox was recruited by a krogan named Kreave, who had an obsession with biotic powers despite having none of his own."

Liara already knew why that was though, as Nel pointed out herself.

"This is the guy Shepard says had a freaky man-crush on him, right?" She asked.

"More or less, but he's dead now," Liara explained. "Trox was left in charge while Kreave was in combat beyond the wormhole. It was only natural he took over the chapter after his former boss' death. There are very few biotics left in his group that can surpass his skills, so no one is going to challenge him. From what we've seen he's capable of some massive destruction. However, I think he has been holding back because he didn't consider us too much of a threat. That might have changed after the stunt we pulled at the excavation site."

"He's an angry little whelp trying to fill the shoes of his dead leader," Wrex huffed. "He's gotten this far relying on brute strength alone, but he's no strategist. I saw it when I was sneaking among his goons. He's muscle, pure and simple. And if he is trying to unite the other chapters to regain some of their strength, he's going to need a lot more than what he's got currently got on offer to pull it off."

"Which means he probably has some sort of leverage on his side," Vik suggested. "Promises of plunder? Credits? A ton of Covenant weapons would probably be enough."

"Or just a chance to get back at the turians and kill a few?" Nel suggested.

Vik thought for a moment and then nodded.

"Yeah, that would be a good sales pitch for a violent angry Pack member," he surmised.

"Let's not forget the other mercenary group involved in this," Liara interceded. "The Eclipse Sisters were brought in for their access to biotic enhancing drugs. But they don't seem to be more involved beyond that."

Liara switch the holographic image to a profile of Eclipse leader, Varna.

"It wasn't difficult finding her record," Liara said as she scrolled through the images in the file. "Her mother died when she was young and she was taken in by her father, a low-level turian drug dealer. Their relationship was not a happy one, evidenced by the fact she killed him with one of his own hypodermic injectors... stabbing him several times in fact."

Everyone got a good look at the crime scene photos on their datapads and instantly wished they hadn't.

"Spirits, someone has issues," Nel grimaced.

"Seventy years in and out of detention centers for various offenses," Liara continued. "Eventually she joined up with the Eclipse Sisters, but was a low ranking operative. The only reason she managed to take over is pure luck. She was off planet when Shepard arrived and decimated their ranks. There was a brief power struggle among the remaining members, she came out on top and assumed control. Near as we can tell she's been recruiting whoever she can from various Asari gangs and mercenary groups she used to run with to rebuild things."

Saya was quick to type down his own assessment and present it to the others. His screen simply read "Bottom of barrel." Everyone instantly understood what he meant.

"The frog is right, she's the weakest link in this chain," Nel declared. "She's in over her head and her organization is still recovering. I say we hit her interests hard, draw her out and see where she can lead us from there. We find put where these biotic enhancements they're selling are going, we find out more about where the Seppies are."

Liara nodded, seemingly impressed for once by one of Nel's ideas. It could work to their benefit to try and knock Varna's drug smuggling out of the equation quickly. However, as she took the idea in, Liara also noticed Vik looking a bit more thoughtful, more concerned.

"Vik, what is it?" She asked. "Not a fan of Nel's idea?"

"No, actually I think it's a good thread to pull," Vik admitted.

Nel chuckled.

"Holy shit, that was a compliment!" She grinned, suddenly placing her hand on the quarian's forehead. "You sick, Bucket? You didn't get a suit rupture or something did ya?"

Vik moved her hand away, looking rather annoyed as he did.

"I'm simply concerned we're overlooking the biggest issue here, the bioweapon itself," he clarified. "We can go after any of these targets and we'd probably get some answers, but not the big one. The one that's tied to all of this, the bioweapon. What is it? Why is it important? What are they intending it for? We know it's a key part of their plan, but the question is what does it do?"

"I'd like to know myself, Vik," Liara admitted. "But right now the only people who have those answers are a little out of our reach at the moment."

"I'm not so sure," Vik said skeptically. "Supposedly this bioweapon was stolen from a secret salarian lab the Covenant raided."

"That was what sent Kirrahe to Tuchanka in the first place, yeah," Wrex answered.

"Then maybe the answers we want aren't with any of our enemies," said Vik, "but with him."

He pointed right at Saya, who to his credit didn't flinch in the slightest at the accusation.

"The STG got called in to investigate the lab attack, they have to know something," Vik claimed.

"Kirrahe told us everything he knew, I'm sure of it," Liara informed Vik.

"The STG are spies, infiltrators and black ops soldiers," the quarian countered. "Their secrets have secrets, wrapped up in mysteries and riddles and even more secrets. If Kirrahe didn't know anything then he was either lying or his superiors know something and didn't tell him. More specifically, I'd like to know how the Covenant found out about that lab in the first place."

"You think there's a mole in STG?" Nel said, snorting derisively at the idea.

"I didn't say mole, but there could be a leak," Vik suggested. "And the only way we'll know anything for sure is if we start pushing for answers. We need to know what the Covenant stole and why if we want to have any hope of stopping Orukuri."

It was then that Saya started tapping his fingers harder on the desk, cutting Vik's little rant short. He didn't seem angry or upset, just contemplative. When he was sure he had everyone's attention, he typed something up on his holographic screen.

"Don't know anything about bio-weapon," it read. "Never told specifics. Know where answers might be."

Saya uploaded something to the holo-imager. When it was done he switched the image to the recently installed file. It showed the salarian homeworld, Sur'Kesh. It closed in on a specific building close to the capital, spartan in it's appearance, like most salarian architecture. It was a series of blocky sections connected to one another, with a large rectangular pillar standing tall in the center. Liara recognized it instantly.

"STG Headquarters?" She said, somewhat in shock. "You're not suggesting what I think..."

Saya had typed up his response before Liara had even finished; "I am." The implications of the text were not lost on anyone.

"You want to break into your own fucking house?" Nel said, equally as shocked as Liara was.

"I don't think Kirrahe is going to like that idea," Wrex informed the salarian. "He is still your commanding officer, you report to him. He won't authorize this kind of mission."

Saya just typed up another direct and simple response.

"Kirrahe wished to continue investigation of Covenant attack," the screen read. "Bioweapon reason for attack. Need to find out why and to what end. Answers only at HQ."

"It would be in a high security server," Vik warned him. "Off the grid, isolated. You'd need direct access and clearance."

Saya type up a quick response on his screen.

"Can get clearance. Know layout. Just need good hacker to help." The screen read, before Saya then added. "Up for challenge?"

Vik looked surprised at the invitation and a bit lost for words.

"Well, Coda could help me with the greater security," he surmised. "And I'd be lying if I said I didn't want a crack at something this big. I mean, this is the kind of street cred a hacker could only dream of. A high security salarian server? An STG Server to be precise. I can give it a shot at least."

Saya looked to Liara, waiting for her say. It was up to her if they went through this. To say she had concerns would be an understatement.

"You realize what happens if you get caught, right?" Liara asked him. "This is treason. They'll kill you."

Saya looked at her unwavering as he typed in his reply methodically.

"Sedition technically," he wrote first. "Salarians not at war with Shadow Broker."

Liara just crossed her arms at the snark, prompting Saya to write a more direct response.

"Broken plenty of laws already with you," it read. "What's one more?"

Liara sighed, knowing this was inescapable. Like everyone else she wanted to know what they were chasing here. As much as she hated to admit it, this sounded like their only real option. Other than fumbling around in the dark for weeks, and by the time they found them it could be too late. They needed to get answers now.

"Okay," she relented. "Let's set course for Sur'Kesh."

* * *

How long had it been since he was back here? Four months, five? Saya was sure it couldn't be more than six. He had been on so many missions in the colonies, working out of various branches with Kirrahe, he had completely lost track of things. Taking on the assignment with T'Soni hadn't helped. For a moment he wondered if it would feel familiar at all. The second he touched down and breathed in the air though, his concerns evaporated.

Sur'Kesh was a blessed world for the salarian people, rich with green jungles and cool waters. It wasn't always the most comfortable place. There were some days that were more humid than others and the rain was non-stop for a good chunk of the year. It was home though, his home. Well, more specifically it was home because it was where STG HQ was located.

Liara's concerns about this mission were warranted, he was taking the biggest risk of his career and he knew it. Even Kirrahe wouldn't be able to get him out of this if things went south. The thing was though, Vik was right. He had taken a long time to voice it, but he was right. Saya had actually been considering the problem himself for a little over a week now. They knew very little about what this was all about. His involvement in this started when the Covenant attacked that Salarian lab and stole something from it. Neither he nor Kirrahe were told it was a potential bio-weapon that was taken, just that the lab had been attacked and something of value was stolen. They knew it was biological in nature of course, but they were fed no further details. For a time that was sufficient.

That time had past. When this only related to Salarian interests concerning krogan getting their hands on something from one of their biological facilities, that was an internal matter. As the scope of the events began to build out from that, the raid on the lab simply became the catalyst for something far worse than originally believed. Turian lives were now at stake because of a bioweapon developed from the work of their scientists. Yes, it had been taken by force, but that didn't change the fact they played a hand in it. This was an external situation now, one that had far reaching consequences. They couldn't wait for the red tape to clear, Saya knew enough about their bureaucracy to know that by the time they got their answers it could be far too late.

They needed to know what made this stolen bio-agent so important and why Orukuri needed it so badly. They also needed to know how Balak and the Covenant had found out about it. Saya suspected a mole himself, ever since he'd been informed of the raid at start of this assignment. If he had such suspicions, he didn't doubt that the STG had their own. If they wanted answers for all these questions, they needed to get into STG HQ, simple as that.

Thankfully, Vik had brought the subject up himself, so Saya didn't need to come up with a convincing argument to go through with all this. He didn't need the quarian to figure out how to break into his own "house" though, he had been thinking up ways on how to breach HQ security for years now. It was a hobby of his in the academy. If you could outwit Salarian security measures, you could outwit anything. It just made sense to study ways to fool foolproof systems. He even considered writing something to the department chiefs about how to cover potential holes in their net. Other things got in the way though sadly.

If nothing else, maybe he wouldn't have to if everything went right tonight. Or wrong, there was still a high probability he'd get caught while snooping around in there. The knowledge they weren't entirely secure would lead to some major security revisions. Really this was a win-win in a sense. No matter which way this went down, the Chiefs wouldn't be able to keep ignoring those holes for much longer.

Getting inside the HQ was the easy part actually. Sneaking past he perimeter sensors was hardly a chore when you knew all their blind-spots. Climbing to the roof was as simple as finding some footing in the architecture and pulling yourself up. There was some external piping he used to shimmy up halfway, ledges provided the rest of the way. The one tricky bit came next, it simply required some outside help to be viable.

When you lived on a world like Sur'Kesh, environmental controls were a big deal. That's why HQ had so many cooling systems to keep humidity inside to a minimum. This worked through tech similar to heat sink technology, climate control exhaust pods in designated places throughout the facility. They let out their excess heat when they got over saturated. If a pod needed repairs, they opened it up and performed maintenance. If someone wanted to get inside HQ, all they'd need is the code for one pod's maintenance mode. The pod would rise up, open wide, a single person could then climb inside and snake their way through the climate control vent below and into the building proper. All one needed was access to the climate systems, which were low priority because everyone seemed to think no one would get this close.

Saya approached one of the pods, currently locked up tight. However, with his Omni-Tool synced up to Vik's computer, he only had to wait while the quarian tapped the system wirelessly. Given his skill, which even Saya couldn't doubt, this was practically child's play to Sajee.

" _Alright, Saya, I'm connected"_ the quarian himself reported through Saya's comm. _"I'm introducing your little systems glitch now. Get ready."_

Within seconds, the pod began to rise up and then opened wide. Saya moved quickly, the system would reset automatically when it realized the error. He crawled inside the pod and forced open the exhaust port at his. Forcing himself through the newly made hole, he was suddenly thankful that evolution had provided his species with very nimble and slender bodies. It was a tight fit, squeezing through the vent, but before long he was out the other side. The pod closed up shortly after he landed on the small catwalk in the maintenance area. He didn't see any guards, but he activated his cloak all the same.

" _Good, you're in. Your feed is coming through just fine,"_ Vik reported. _"I can see everything you can."_

But not everything he needed to, Saya thought. This mission wouldn't get far if they had no actionable intel on what was happening inside. Only way they were going to get more eyes and ears was through HQ's own security feeds. It was why he had picked that particular climate control pod. Its inner maintenance area was very close to a security post.

Slinking down from the catwalk, Saya moved to the exit, his mind set squarely on his target. He entered the darkened sterile hallways of the facility proper. It was late at night, practically a skeleton crew in most of the level one security areas, making getting around this place just a bit easier. Hugging the wall, he crept up to the security post. Thermal imaging on his visor told him there was a single guard inside, currently glued to the screens in front of him. The door was unlocked, but opening normally would create too much noise for Saya's liking. Even with his cloak activated, no salarian would look at a door opening and think it was just a simple systems glitch or the wind. He needed a distraction.

Saya pulled a long telescopic chord from his pack and stuck it into the door slit. He brought up the fiber optic's camera feed onto his omni-tool to get a better look at the inside of the post. Scanning it around, he located the server tower and connected to the system wirelessly. Then, all he had to do was introduce a small glitch to the systems. With the flick of a command, suddenly the screens the guard was looking at began to flicker wildly, electronic static taking over some, lost feeds to others, a few showing some of the guard's extranet history. He really liked funny Varren videos it seemed, Saya supposed it could've been way worse.

The guard, now incredibly annoyed and distracted with trying to reboot the system, would not hear the door slide open as Saya activated it's manual control. He had to physically open the door himself by placing his hand between the crease and pushing. Crude, maybe, but he was a lot quieter than the automatic system and he didn't want to leave anything to chance. The guard was still distracted as Saya moved towards the server junction near the back of the room. He was already making a call to technical services.

"These glitches have been happening for months now, why has no one gotten on it?" He asked. "I shouldn't need to reboot my feeds every two weeks. This is the most haywire it's been. ... No, I can fix it myself, but seriously, someone needs to get on this."

Saya would store that bit of information for later. If HQ was having glitches, it could tie in to how the intel on the lab leaked. For now, he needed to get Vik his feed. Attaching a small transmission drive to the server junction was all that was required. Once plugged in, Vik only had to log in to get what he needed.

" _Feeds are up,"_ the quarian reported. _"Okay, let's get to work."_

Saya moved to leave, exiting via the back door in a similar matter to how he entered. There was no sense in doubling back, he knew where he needed to go next and he wasn't about to waste time getting there. He had a lot of security checkpoints to bypass and guards to avoid. Hopefully, all that time thinking about infiltrating HQ would pay off tonight and that the answers they all wanted were somewhere inside this place.

* * *

Vik didn't normally like people crowding him while he worked. The circumstances of the mission, however, forced him to leave his usual comfort zone behind. He was using Liara's terminal, the one connected to the awesome computing power of the Shadownet. He needed that in order to be Saya's extra pair of eyes and ears. With the stakes so high, everyone was deeply invested in the operation's success. So for now, he accepted the fact everyone was huddling around him trying to keep appraised of the ongoing infiltration.

Thankfully it was going well, Saya already seem to know where he was going. Vik had a basic outline of what the inside of the complex looked like, but he barely needed to tell Saya anything, save pointing out potential roadblocks to his forward progress or the status of patrols. It made sense, he knew this place, or at least a sizable portion of its layout. While they couldn't really see him on screen with his cloak on, they were able to watch him move with surprising speed through the halls. Vik would point out a patrol, and then Saya would shift his path, seemingly capable of finding another way forward all on his own. It was a bit unnerving, as Nel so bluntly pointed out.

"I'm not the only who's a bit weirded out by the fact this is all his plan, right?" She asked.

"You mean the fact it feels like he's been thinking about how to sneak into his own agency's headquarters for a considerable amount of time?" Vik asked in return in response. "That's probably because he has. Saya is methodical like that."

"Salarian brains are always on constantly," Wrex grunted. "They never stop thinking at a mile a minute. It doesn't shock me that he's thought this over. What surprises me is how quick he was to suggest it."

"I'm more surprised he wanted me to run Ops for him," Vik stated. "I thought he didn't like me."

"Saya might not be the warmest of personalities, but he does recognize skill and talent," Liara reminded the quarian serenely. "Clearly he has more respect for you and your abilities than you thought."

Vik supposed he was happy to hear that. If nothing else, Saya recognized he was a valuable member of the team. That was nice to know, he wasn't going to deny that. At least he knew the salarian cared somewhat.

Another security patrol appeared on the camera, rounding from behind a corner. There were two of them, they appeared to be talking to one another, although keeping their eyes ahead of them. They were still heading in Saya's general direction. Vik quickly contacted him.

"You got two headed your way," he warned.

Vik expected Saya to change directions again, take a different route. He could barely make his outline out on camera though and he saw that the salarian was not moving this time. In fact he was headed forward. For a minute, Vik wondered if he had heard him right. Looking through Saya's camera feed, he saw the salarian jump against the wall towards the ceiling. The feed then looked back down to the floor, where the agents were walking.

Near as Vik could tell, Saya had split his legs apart enough that he had managed to plant his foot on either side of the corridor's walls. Allowing him to more or less remain suspended above the hallway. The patrol passed beneath Saya's legs and never knew he was there. About a few seconds later, after they had passed, Saya's feed dropped back to the ground, rolling along the floor to cushion the sound of his landing.

"Part of me wonders if he's just showing off at this point," Nel huffed derisively.

"He was nominated for the Spectres before he lost his voice," Liara reminded her. "He's simply more capable than most of us in this type of mission."

"Where is he going anyway?" Kayap asked.

"Lower levels, data analysis," Vik explained. "If you want to find out what the STG knows about that bio-agent and who might have leaked it to Balak, thats where you got to start. Security is only going to get tougher though."

"All the more reason to keep ahead of him on camera," Liara reminded him. "Where's he heading now?"

Vik took a look at the layout and deduced his path. Where it lead though, well, part of him wondered if maybe Nel was right. Maybe Saya was trying to show off a little.

* * *

Briefings at STG were always done in the dead of night. Fewest possible people working in the walls at that moment. Fewer chances for leaks to get out that way. The doors were usually locked tight, but not for Saya. While he didn't have the codes, there were subtle ways to get in for him. Leveling his Shiakala to the door's locking mechanism. He activated the electrical shock impulse and cut it close to lock. The system shorted out, back ups would take over soon enough, but Saya was able to push the door apart long enough to slink inside with minimal noise.

He was now in the amphitheater, where a few high level members of STG were already deep into their little intelligence briefing. They were pouring over a ton of data at a mile a minute. While Saya tuned it out as he snuck through the mostly empty seats, he couldn't help but overhear everything.

"What we're getting from this mostly is that a lot of traffic between the Blood Pack and the Eclipse Sisters, more than we'd be normally comfortable with," the chief analyst explained. "As far as we can tell, the primary Eclipse organization is unaware of any of this. However, we can't assume that they are completely uninformed about what the branch is doing."

"Whether they approve of these talks or not isn't important," claimed another agent. "What bothers me is what they're talking about and why this increase in chatter now? Is this a power play? Are they teaming up to go after the Blue Suns?"

"None of the chatter suggests that," the analyst assured. "It does suggest that the Blood Pack is looking to unite its disparate branches. Given the beating they've taken lately, that isn't surprising. Talking to the Eclipse Sisters is. However, it makes a strange sort of sense when you remember how their own numbers have been decimated in the past year."

"Both groups also share the same reason for their shared troubles," another of the Agents recalled. "Could they be going after him?"

"Perhaps, but given our own information we think their designs aren't revenge based," he analyst assured. "Everything suggests we're looking at a more unified Pack, one that could help the Sisters reclaim their place in the Eclipse hierarchy."

"So this is possibly a more short term alliance? A way to facilitate this... restructuring of the Blood Pack?" The first agent asked. "They must be hurting to turn to a bunch of asari for help."

"Krogan leadership numbers are dropping rapidly," the analyst explained, switching to another data table. "Our last projections put their recruitment down by twenty percent from last year. A consequence of Clan Urdnot becoming a more unifying force, offering better stability among the clans. More krogan are finding reason to stay on their homeworld rather than joining a bunch of mercenaries. As a consequence, there are fewer and fewer veteran krogans in the pack. Many branches have been wiped out altogether or disbanded, no experienced warriors to keep them running. On the flip-side, Vorcha recruitment is at an all time high. The branches are desperate to keep their fighting numbers high. At this rate, the krogan are going to be outnumbered by their own attack dogs."

"I don't know if that's a good or bad thing," another agent observed. "Only thing worse than a united Krogan pack, is a Pack run by Vorcha. Do we have a timeline on any of this?"

"It depends largely on how this whole restructuring attempt works out," the analyst claimed. "Best case scenario, there's a lot of infighting that ends up with them all killing each other. Worst case, they actually pull it off and become a more organized mercenary company. And this Trox character might just be able to pull that off. He's already started to get an influx of Vorcha from other branches. It has bolstered his ranks sufficiently."

"And if the Sisters keep helping him with these smuggling operations, he'll garner even more goodwill among them," another agent reasoned. "We need to get ahead of them on this. Take Eclipse out of this equation."

"The Sisters have gone to ground," the second agent reminded him. "They're not on Illium anymore, they've abandoned it. We're trying to triangulate their new base of operations, but they got a wide range it seems. It will take time to pinpoint them."

It was all interesting stuff, to be sure. As expected, the STG had not been idle. They were working the same angle Liara was. They were a little behind on some things though, namely the connection this all had to Orukuri. Regardless, it was probably something extra to keep an eye out for when he got to his target.

However, info on the Blood Pack was not why he was in here. He was here because it was the quickest down to his real goal. Well, the quickest way if you knew what you were doing. Using the conversation between the agents as a cover, Saya crept over to a small wall panel and opened an electronics box. Connecting to its system via his omni-tool, he passed control to Vik. The quarian bypassed the security in seconds, allowing Saya to get the thing to unlock. Once it did, a maintenance hatch opened to the left of him.

This was more or less a straight shot down to data analysis. A few feet of creeping through wires and assorted cables, he'd be able to break into the ventilation above the room and then into the room itself. He squeezed inside and forced the door behind him to close, leaving his fellow agents to continue their briefing. Silently, he wished them luck on their end of the investigation. However, he suspected it would be moot soon enough. He had a hunch they'd be taking the Eclipse Sisters out of the equation for them soon enough.

The inside the data vault was cramped and constantly cooled. With all the servers inside constantly compiling information, one could ill-afford an overheating issue. Saya didn't mind the freezer air, his suit kept him insulated. He had far greater concerns than being a little chilly. He carefully removed the venting panel, bringing himself up into the tube proper. He couldn't risk even a single screw falling to the floor. The room has sensors in every tile. The smallest bit of pressure, without formal authorization from the security system beforehand, and every single alarm in the building would be tripped. Combat Drones would be activated and the vault itself locked down. He'd be as good as captured.

To avoid all that, he'd need to stay off the floor. Not easy to do, but it was manageable. He let himself hang from the open vent, dangling a few good feet off the floor. He then swung himself to and fro, before letting go and flinging himself to one of the servers. He grabbed onto the top and felt his body slip a little. He struggled to get a proper footing on the side of the server, forcing himself up. He had misjudged the distance only slightly, it had nearly cost him. He'd have to be extra careful from here on out.

Scanning the vault, he eventually spotted what he was looking for, a data port in one of the corners. Slinking along the servers, he made his way towards his objective. It was going to take another jump to get to it, but it was doable and he was in a far better position to attempt it this time. He prepared himself first, eyeing where he wanted to go and what he'd use to support himself. Launching himself from the server, he flew at the dataport's server tower, grabbing onto a large handle like piece on the side. He planted his feet squarely on the server's side.

Using similar bits of the dataport's construction, he descended to the interface, minding his footing along the way. Hang off slightly from the side now, he reached over and plugged his hack tool into the port. With the connection established, he used the same hand to activate his omni-tool. Now he could see everything that Vik was able to pull from the files. It didn't take long for the quarian to find what they were looking for.

" _They got a lot of intel on this case,"_ he observed. _"I'm patching Liara through to your headset, Saya. Just a minute."_

While he waited, Saya looked at the contents of the first batch of files. There was a lot of genetic and chemical science jargon, a composite of some kind of genotype, pictures of some sort of biological containment case and virtual depiction of a microbe. Liara voiced Saya's own questions for him.

" _What am I looking at Vik?"_ She asked.

" _Research notes for our bio-agent,"_ the quarian explained. _"It's labeled NA-VH0S3. They just call it 'Strain-S3' for short. Discovered by accident by scientists trying to make a pesticide treatment for a colony that was having problems with some rather voracious insect life. Locked in storage seal when the results got back to the STG."_

" _But what does it do?"_ Liara asked.

" _That appears encrypted, Coda and I can work on that,"_ Vik assured them. _"But I can speculate right now based on where they locked it up."_

The image on omni-tool changed to that of the facility that the Covenant raided, the salarian lab where the agent had been stolen from in the first place. There were pictures of the damage the raid caused, walls blasted out, doors blown in. Saya had seen these pictures before during the briefing, never in the context of what Vik revealed, however.

" _The research lab in question researches one thing only, deadly biological and chemical strains,"_ Vik stated. _"Viruses, chemicals, bacteria, poisons, parasites, they cover the works. If it is designed to tear you apart from the inside out, they got it in their vault. They're still trying to figure out how the Covenant even found out about it. The place has a cover as a government research firm. The average person thinks they make gene therapies. They do, it's just a lot of it is for stuff they have on hand that no one else does, just in case."_

" _And this pesticide, whatever it was, it did something bad enough to warrant getting locked up there,"_ Liara reasoned. _"Did they at least find a counter agent for it?"_

" _Doesn't look like it, sounds like they just wanted to bury it and hope everyone forgot about it,"_ the quarian replied. _"Not exactly comforting to be honest. When something is bad enough to scare the STG, that usually means you should be concerned too."_

Vik was right, STG did not spook this easily over something so small. It explained why they didn't tell them what this bio-agent was for. It explained why they put Kirrahe on the mission, a career soldier who does the job with minimal questioning. In this case, there was only one real reason they would be scared like that though. Whatever this agent did could potentially hurt Salarian standing in galactic politics. Their scientists created it, they locked it away in response. No one could know about it, ever. It had to remain buried. For whatever reason though, this little secret got out. They needed to know how, something Liara and Vik were way ahead of him on.

" _Who had access to this information last?"_ Liara asked the quarian insistently. _"Specifically within the timeframe leading up to the raid."_

" _Hold on, I'm bringing up an itinerary now,"_ Vik answered dutifully. _"Okay, we might have something here. The files concerning Strain-S3 were subject to a routine data compiling and transfer procedure. It was handled by a Data Technician named Poran Uyor. About a month later our raid happens."_

" _Why haven't the STG investigated this angle?"_ Liara asked.

" _It's buried deep in the access log, maybe they haven't discovered this yet,"_ Vik suggested. _"Also it seems they're investigating other leads at the moment. The current theory is it was someone from inside the research lab that leaked information, not STG."_

" _Then I suppose we'll have to look into this for them,"_ Liara stated. _"Saya, find Poran. If he is a mole maybe he's our key to finding out more about this bio-agent."_

Worth a shot at least, and he likely worked in this department as well so it wasn't too far out of his way when you thought about it. The problem for Saya right now was what to do when he actually found him. Well, that and getting out of this room without tripping the floor sensors, but he preferred to think a few extra steps ahead. He'd obviously have to look on his computer for any proof Poran was a mole. After that though, what was their next course of action?

He'd leave the connection to the dataport active, give Vik more time to sift through the system. With any luck he'd uncover more about this Strain-S3 and hopefully some other interesting tidbits Liara was no doubt asking him to look into. She was the Shadow Broker after all, you didn't pass up the chance to gain as much information as you could from a previously untouchable source. Knowing her, it was most likely only related to their current mission. He'd be less than enthused with this whole operation otherwise.

He climbed back up into the shadows, away from the floor. Reaching out to a supporting beam in the rafters, he pulled himself up onto it to perch himself over the edge. He spotted his way out, the cooling vent. He slinked over through the various support beams to reach the vent. Prying it off as careful as the one before, he squeezed inside. It was only now, so close to the searing cold that kept the vault below zero, that even his suit was not able to keep the chill out. He did his best to ignore it and slink himself through the cramped space.

It took about a minute to really get through the cramped corners of the vent. He finally popped out the other side to find himself on a ledge overlooking the adjacent room to the vault. As he placed the vent cover back quietly, however, he noticed something wrong. His arm, it was more clearly visible. While he didn't let that prevent him from continuing to cover his tracks, he still realized what that meant.

His cloak was gone.

* * *

"Why can we see his arm on his feed?" Nel asked, sounding way more concerned than she usually did. "Did the cold short the cloak? Is he out of power?"

"Give us a second, Coda is sending in intel from the system on this level," Vik assured her.

The data came in just then and Vik quickly looked it over. The answer to the problem became rather clear. However, it also told them there was no easy fix.

"Keelah, they have a cloak scrambler installed in the lower levels," Vik growled. "It came online three weeks ago. That's why Saya didn't know about it in advance."

"So... what? He's gotta do the rest of the mission old school?" Nel asked. "Keeping away from bright lights? Staying out of sight?"

"The cloak scrambler is a multi-unit system designed to set up a wide field that prevents cloak tech from working," Vik explained. "It would take hours for Saya to shut each device down. We don't have the time. He doesn't have the time."

"Saya is an accomplished STG operative, he'll adapt," Liara assured everyone. "If anything, this means we have to step up our game. Vik, keep an eye on where he's going. He needs to be updated on everything. Nel, we need to move up the time table of extraction, prep the shuttle. I want you down there to pick him up the second he's clear."

"I'm gone," Nel responded jumping up and headed for the door. "Just be ready with that distraction or I'm not getting anywhere near the place."

"Coda has been installing it since we first got plugged in," Vik promised. "You'll get your window, just go."

Nel nodded and left the room in a run. Their plan had been knocked for a loop, but they needed to maintain course. They were too close to answers now. Liara turned back to Vik to monitor the situation alongside him. As she did, another data packet got transfered up from Coda. Liara opened it, realizing why the Huragok had deemed it so important.

"Our data dive has found some intel on Varna and her Eclipse Sisters," she told Vik aloud. "The STG has pinpointed hotspots concerning their smuggling routes."

"Can that help us find out where she's operating out of?" Vik asked.

"If I can cross reference it with the intel I'm getting from the ShadowNet on the Eclipse Sisters movements, maybe," Liara informed him. "Right now though, we need to find Poran, get our data and get Saya out of there."

"Won't be easy, there's more people working down here than up top it seems," Vik cautioned. "And without a working cloak... it's like Nel said, it's like he has to fall back on the basics."

"He'll pull it off," Liara once again assured him. "We just have to keep being extra pair of eyes and ears and we'll get him home safely."

"Well," Vik corrected. "More like out of HIS home safely."

* * *

The lack of a cloak was a bit shocking at first, but Saya just told himself to get over it. There was nothing he could really do to fix it apparently, so he just had to accept it. The mission took priority, complications be damned. He had to fall back on his basic training, they always told him there'd be days when his tech would fail and he'd have to rely on instinct. Strange how that advice was now being used to help him continue infiltrating the very organization he worked for.

For the moment, he tried to stay above ground as best he could, slinking along the side upper ledge in the room he was in. The architecture played to his advantage for now, but he expected that he'd run out of road eventually. When that happened he'd have to go low, but why make it difficult on himself sooner rather than later.

As he slunk among the shadows above, he overheard something below at one of the data terminals. It was a pair of analysts, burning the midnight oil it seemed. One had a cup of something in one hand, hunching over his friend's shoulder as he sat at the screen. They were playing an audio recording of some sort, one that they seemed to keep rewinding.

" _The transfer is complete, when is the next?"_ Said one voice.

" _Preparations underway,"_ a second voice answered. _"Pick up at temple, second at third crossing, third at farm. Fifth rotation quarter."_

The analyst rewound the clip, playing the second voice again. Said voice was altered significantly, further disguising the person speaking. They didn't seem concerned with that so much as the code.

"I don't like it when Krogan use code," the first analyst said. "It means we're losing our touch."

"More than likely it is not their idea," the analyst on the computer claimed. "They suspect we're in their transmissions, so the Eclipse Sisters are being more careful."

"It can't be too literal, they wouldn't throw us clues like that," suggested the first analyst. "There must be a meaning behind the words, but symbolic. A unique rock formation, natural landmark, some kind of structure that's a metaphorical stand-in."

"Too many of those things in the target area to honestly narrow it down," the salarian on the terminal informed his companion. "I think I might have something else on the recording. Listen carefully."

The analyst rewinded again and played the soundbite again.

" _Pickup at Temple, second at third crossing,"_

"Did you hear it?"

"Hear what?"

"I'll slow it down," the analyst at the computer stated. "Listen, right after they say temple."

" _Pickup... at... Temple..."_

Saya barely picked up on what the computer tech was trying to show his friend. Some kind of sound in the background, barely audible with the voice all messed up like it was. Something like a tweet or a chirp.

"A bird?"

"If it's a unique species, we might be able to narrow down where it's located in our search pattern," the computer tech claimed. "At the very least, it suggests some kind of forested area."

"I'll get more audio analysts on this," the first agent said, standing straight once more. "If we can isolate and clean up that sound we can start comparisons. Might take a while to call them in."

"I'll wait, I got a few more files to sift through anyway," the computer tech explained. "I might find something even more distinct if I keep combing. It will probably take me all night, but I'll find something."

"This is why they pay you the big bucks, pal," his friend said, patting him on the shoulder.

As the first analyst walked away to find a commlink, sipping his drink as he did, Saya continued to slink along the darkened upper ledge. However, he soon found he didn't have much more ledge to use. Worse yet, Saya had a waypoint update from Vik. The quarian had uploaded Poran's cubicle, the most direct path was through a door below him where the two analysts currently were. The one with the drink was making some calls on a comm. terminal nearby as his friend continued to work. They were both busy, but getting by them would still be a challenge, especially getting through a door with minimal noise.

He'd have to be careful about this, planning out his route to his exit in advance. He spotted a large desk in the middle of the room along with some computer terminals off to the right of the door. He could probably use that to cover himself. Thankfully there weren't many lights on in here to begin with, so he still had some shadows. He just couldn't let himself be seen.

He dropped down as quietly as possible, rolling along the carpet to cushion the fall. He quickly moved behind one of the desks as the analyst at the computer turned briefly. He had probably heard the faintest sound just out of range. Noticing nothing, he went back to work. Probably thought his friend had just made a noise or something. Saya slowly but surely slinked away, letting them continue their work uninterrupted. He moved to the door proper, hiding behind one of the terminals. This was the real challenge, the door could be bypassed, but it would still make noise when it opened. That was fine when there weren't many people paying attention, not so much when there were two people in an otherwise very quiet room.

He'd need to rely on some of his tech, he just hoped whatever jamming signal had disrupted his cloak wasn't doing the same to all his infiltration gear. His omni-tool had a masking application, one designed to keep things quiet. It created a field around him that blocked soundwaves, however, it was not designed for longterm use. He only had like three activations before he needed to let it recharge. He didn't like using it too much for fear of becoming reliant on it for that reason, his cloak at least had a longer battery life and there weren't many people who had anti-stealth technology. Seeing no other option here though, he decided to use it.

Activating the field, Saya moved to the door and began running a bypass. All sound in his immediate vicinity was muted. Within the small bubble of the field, silence reigned. It would only last a few seconds before said bubble popped, so to speak. Saya had to work fast bypassing the system, not easy when you wanted to be sure the internal security didn't set off alarms when it noticed you were trying to unlock something you shouldn't. Luckily, Saya managed to finish in time, the door opened, muffled by Saya's field. He entered it just seconds before the silence ended, the only sound that of the door just closing. Suspicious no doubt if either salarian heard it, but they'd soon turn back to their work as long as Saya was well out of sight.

The next room was a series of offices and cubicles, the place where all the data junkies, hackers, analysts and other techies resided. Normally it would be staffed with several dozen salarians. Tonight, there were about five. All of them glued to their screens. Fine by Saya, it would make sneaking all the easier. He just had to stay in the shadows and out of sight.

He slunk along the darkened corners of the room, keeping an eye on the few salarians still at their desks. Some people would probably say, just knock them all out and move on. That was stupid, you didn't leave bodies if you could help it, live or dead. More importantly, even your average code monkey at STG had some form of combat training, specifically with a gun. Even if you didn't ever use it, you were expected to be able to handle a firearm. Just in case for whatever reason you ended up in the field. If something went wrong, if someone spotted him knocking out people, they'd sound an alarm or start shooting. No, the only through this was being like a ghost. He was never here, this night was normal, nothing of significance happened and it was boring for all involved. That's what the internal memo tomorrow had to read. Well, save for the one distraction Vik was hopefully setting up for his exfiltration.

Saya was partially stopped in his tracks when one of the data analysts got up from his chair, stretched about a bit and slunk over to a small water fountain set up nearby. Hiding behind a small plant, Saya watched as the man took a sip of water and rubbed the excess off his mouth as he stood back up. He then trudged back to his desk just as a call came in for him.

"Yes..." he began. "No, no I still got some things to compile. Another hour maybe. ... Sorry, I know, it wasn't my choice. ... I'll finish up as fast as possible and rush over. I swear."

Saya let the distraction serve him, he quietly sprinted past the analyst to the next series of shadows in the darkened room. He reached a corner of a small office, not just any office though, the one he was after. Poran's. It was a rather nice office, window walls, sparse interior. Inside he saw the salarian in question, standing over his desk and typing a few things. Then he just nodded a few times and turned to shut the light off as he kept his computer running. He then turned for the door suddenly. Saya moved back into the shadows as the salarian left heading for parts unknown for the moment. Saya grabbed the door as Poran left, keeping it from closing and then slunk inside. The darkness of the office covered him as he made his way to Poran's computer. He plugged another of Vik's connections into the terminal and let the quarian go to work. It didn't take long to get answers.

" _Good news, bad news,"_ he reported. _"Poran's not a mole, but he did put the files in question on his own terminal. Apparently, he was a bit concerned about data corruption and the security of vault. He moved them to his office server for further analysis, he didn't even know what he had. Unfortunately, that means this is likely how the information got out."_

" _Do we have an idea how?"_ Liara asked.

" _I've logged Coda in, he's already pulling up log entries,"_ Vik elaborated. _"I'm seeing traces of some kind of batarian phising program used to find pertinent data. It got into Poran's home computer, then his omni-tool then his work terminal if I'm reading the path right. That fed information back to Balak no doubt before it erased itself to cover its tracks."_

" _That sounds far too coincidental for my liking,"_ Liara reasoned. _"This seems targeted."_

" _It most likely was,"_ Vik concurred. _"My guess, Orukuri wanted dirt on the salarians to help in his cause and asked Balak to get it for him. I've been seeing similar attempts in salarian logs as I've combed the system. They were all stopped though, only this one got through. They've be targeting STG for a while, Poran just inadvertently_ _gave them an in. They must've discovered the data on the salarian bio-lab in the cache, gave it to the Covenant and had them raid the base for Orukuri. No doubt securing VykurCorps' cooperation with their little cabal."_

" _Can you pull anything else from the computer?"_ Liara pressed stoically. _"Anything we can use."_

It took a few seconds, but Vik eventually had an answer.

" _Hmm, Poran has been trying to do some extra credit work in his downtime,"_ the quarian reported. _"He's pulled files on the Eclipse Sister connection to the Blood Pack. Unauthorized, but he's made some headway on his own. He's run a profile on one of Varna's associates, an asari smuggler who's been on a few watch lists named Deinu. She's apparently been zipping back and forth, but he thinks he's starting to pin down that route. He might be up for a promotion if this works out... so long as no one finds out he put classified files on his work server of course."_

" _We could use that information for ourselves,"_ Liara reasoned. _"Can you download it?"_

" _No, only the preliminary notes are here, he does not want anyone stealing his glory it seems,"_ Vik explained solemnly. _"It's all on his omni-tool, thats where he's uploaded it to. You want that intel, Saya is gonna have to get Poran's omni-tool from him."_

" _You heard him, Saya,"_ Liara stated. _"Find Poran, get his omni-tool and get out. This might be what we need to make some real head way on this link to Orukuri."_

Saya just nodded in response and made his way out of the office. He slowly opened the door as quietly as he could with his hands and then went after Poran. He couldn't have gotten far after all. Saya turned the corner and found another door leading out of the office area. Bypassing it quickly and moving through it before anyone could really register the sound, he found himself in another hallway. As he made his way down it, Vik piped in.

" _Poran's in a rec room further down the corridor you're in,"_ he reported. _"He's getting himself something to drink and eat from the vending machines. Apparently he has a bit of a sweet tooth. One other guy in there, might want to wait until he leaves to move in on Poran. Once you have the omni-tool, I can direct you to the nearest exit and get you out of there."_

Good, thought Saya, this was almost over, he just had to keep focused and get that data. He just had one other salarian standing between him and the target. Saya spotted him through the large window in the hall as he approached. Just another late working analyst taking a break from watching his screen for who knew how many hours. He was just having a hot caffeinated drink though, not stuffing his face with snack cakes and whatever new flavor of Tupari was being peddled that month. Problem was, there was a lot more light in that room than Saya was prepared to deal with. It wasn't like it was lit up like the sun, but he wouldn't be able to really sneak in there. He had to come up with a plan, one that would remove both the lighting and extra pair of eyes problem he was facing.

He came upon the solution when he saw the power switch in the back of the room. He switched his visor to a different vision mode, one designed to see electronic currents through walls. He traced the now glowing wire until it came to a junction box embedded in the wall near him. That could settle the lighting issue, but now he needed to deal with the other guy in the room. He wouldn't be able to handle that on his own, not unless he wanted to risk a scuffle. Saya chose to rely on Vik's skills instead. He focused in on the salarian having his hot drink and typed a message back to the quarian.

 **Call Him Away**

Saya reasoned Vik, for all his eccentricities, was smart enough to get the gist of what he wanted. He could always clarify further if he didn't. However, his faith was rewards with an almost instant response.

" _Gotcha, I'm coming up with something now."_

About ten seconds later, the analyst's breaktime was interrupted by a beeping on his omni-tool. He grumbled under his throat for a moment, grabbing his drink and heading for the door. Saya pressed himself behind into a small alcove in the hall to avoid his gaze as he exited the rec room and headed back to the data cubicles.

" _I found his contact address on the network through a facial scan and sent him a message about getting his reports to his supervisor,"_ Vik explained. _"Should take him about an hour, plenty of time to do what you need to do."_

Vik was indeed fast on the uptake, but now it was down to him again. Saya took his Shiakala out and placed it against the wall where the junction point was. He forced the blade through the crease in the panel and then activated the electrical current. The shock shorted out the junction point and every light in the break room, along with the corridor, shut down.

Saya could hear Poran's irritation at this, but looking through his night vision, he could also see the careless techie still wanting to finish his snack. Saya promised himself to make this fast, no sense in dragging it out. He snuck into the break room proper now. Slowly edging towards his target. Poran just kept muttering to himself, wondering when the backups were going to activate. Not soon enough, if Saya was correct.

The second Poran turned his back, Saya lunged. With his sword out, he moved the blade onto Poran's shoulder lightly and activated the current. The jolt of electricity was more than enough for his purposes, Poran fell into Saya's arms like a sack of rocks. Putting his weapon away, Saya quickly disengaged the data drive on Poran's omni-tool and pocketed it. Then he stuffed it into his satchel and dragged the still unconscious salarian to a seat at a nearby table. Saya set Poran down so he wouldn't fall off the stool and then he prepared for one final touch. He opened up a connection on the omni-tool for Vik. He had the data, but there was another little matter to attend to, educating their accidental leak.

" _Uploading complete,"_ Vik reported. _"When he wakes up, he'll have a little text message from the Shadow Broker herself telling him about his screw up and how he better start playing ball. Hopefully he'll get the message about keeping intel secure."_

" _If not, at least we can keep an eye on him now,"_ Liara added. _"Time to get you out of there, Saya. Nel is already waiting for the signal for evac. Vik, guide him out."_

" _Sending a waypoint signal to you now,"_ Vik stated. _"Follow the yellow line to freedom."_

Saya watched as a yellow line indeed appeared on his visor, leading out the door and down the hall. It only existed in the virtual sense, but it was a little better than following a dot or otherwise. He quickly got underway, following the line through the dark to his exit.

* * *

The line led to a small fire exit. Saya had to disable the alarm so it didn't alert them all to where he had left from. He now found himself in the parking complex behind the HQ. He was out, but not home free yet. Nel could try right now to fly in on the shuttle and pick him up, but she'd more than likely be spotted in restricted airspace. That was where Vik's distraction came in. If the quarian was on schedule, he'd be hearing it... now.

A general alert started to sound, loud and piercing. It was the alarm for a lower level reactor leak. That meant radiation, never something you wanted to be close to. A general evacuation of the lower levels of the HQ would now be in effect as things got sorted. Everyone would be far too busy to notice the shuttle craft rushing in to land on the top of the parking complex. Saya made a mad dash for the roof, where he soon spotted the craft coming in. He also saw two guards moving in as it approached.

Damn, he hadn't expected this. He needed to work fast. As the guards moved towards the shuttle, weapons pointed up at it, Saya rushed in from behind. Before they could do anything, or report anything, Saya clocked one of the guards from behind with a blow to the head. Before the other could even turn to see what happened, Saya delivered a quick strike to his head, knocking him out.

Nel came in close, she did not land. The door was just open. Saya rushed to the shuttle and jumped into the waiting hatch. The doors shut tight behind him and the shuttle instantly took off. Saya steadied himself as they flew back off into the sky, leaving STG Headquarters far behind. He could hear Nel laughing slightly from the cockpit and he turned to see her looking back and grinning at him.

"Congrats, bud," she said chuckling. "You got away with treason. Or sedition, whatever, I'm not big on semantics."

Saya just looked at her stoically, but she could tell he didn't appreciate the joke. To her credit, Nel laid off pretty fast. Truthfully though, she was right, he had just gotten away with committing treason. Vik would erase every frame of his unauthorized visit to HQ. The guards would wake up with headaches but no clear image of an attacker. Poran would keep his mouth shut lest he lost his job and probably earned time in a cell himself.

He had stolen from his own organization on behalf of the Shadow Broker. Yes, it was for a good cause, it was his idea, but it was just that. The fact was though, of all the dirty things Saya routinely had to do in his life, this was just one other thing on the pile. STG would re-evaluate their security and they'd let this go eventually. With any luck, this little breach of protocol would yield benefits further down the road. A little guilt at using his skills against his co-workers was a small price for the safety of the galaxy in his mind.

He just hoped it was indeed worth said price.

* * *

Nel got back to the _Lucen_ in rather high spirits. Saya had pulled it off, much to even her surprise. The frog was good, but she hadn't expected it to go as smoothly as it did. Hiccups, yes, but they had gotten away Scott-free. No one was seriously hurt, a leak was closed and they were one step closer to finding out what Orukuri was planning with that bio-agent. Hell, they were even closer to tracking down Varna and her crazy band of merc sisters. They had more than a few reasons to celebrate.

So how come when she and Saya exited the shuttle, Vik and Liara were there to greet them... and they didn't look happy. They in fact looked disturbed more than anything. Saya presented the data from Poran's omni-tool, handing it to Vik.

"I'll get Coda on this as soon as possible," he said, sounding a bit sullen.

Nel could tell something was up, Liara wanted to say something. It was written all over her krinkled blue face as she bit her lower lip. True to form, Nel wasn't about to sit and stew while they tried to find the right words.

"Alright, out with it," she demanded. "Why you looking so glum? Someone die?"

Liara just sighed, looked briefly at Vik and then relented.

"We cracked the encryption on the Strain-S3 file," she explained cautiously. "We know why the STG locked it up."

"We also now know why Orukuri wants it," Vik added, sounding just concerned.

"What's it do?" Nel asked eagerly. "Zombie plague? Makes you piss blood? Kill your sex drive?"

Vik was not laughing at any of that, hell he didn't even get angry. He kept the same look of horror and abject dread as ever. Even through a helmet and clouded visor, it was very easy to see that.

"Remember when we pointed out Strain-S3 was originally designed as a pesticide for a specific colony?" The quarian tried to recall. "Well, the thing is, it was for an invasive species of insect. I'll spare the hows and whys of how it got there, but the point is it wasn't your average bug. They made the spray to attack it on a genetic level, they thought that would keep it from doing any harm to the environment but..."

Vik paused for a moment. Why was this so hard for him to spit out, Nel thought. What was the big deal? It only became a bit clearer, when Vik managed to finish.

"They didn't take into account the insect's biology," he finally clarified. "Specifically, it's amino type."

"What?" Nel responded in confusion.

"The pesticide did work as intended," Liara picked up quickly and firmly. "But not for the reasons they thought it would. Somehow the bio-agent latched itself onto the amino acids of the test insect's DNA and... ripped it apart."

Slowly things began to click and Nel's own confusion turned to one of horror. She looked at Vik again for confirmation and asked the question now burning in her mind.

"What was the bug's amino acid type?" She asked.

Vik answered the one word she did not want to hear.

"Dextro," he confessed. "The insects were dextro-based. The salarians had inadvertently created a bio-agent that attacks dextro-based lifeforms and only dextro-based life-forms. And when STG found out, they shuttered it, because they knew what that could mean."

Nel needed a moment to gather her thoughts, it was all a bit too much.

"Are you saying-"

"The Agent is just a component," Liara tried to reassure. "They never weaponized it, nor intended to. They locked it up along with all the research to prevent exactly that. In the state they left it, it's still just a pesticide at worst, no more dangerous than any other. Refined, however, that could change."

Nel had to sound it all out just so she could make sense of it.

"So Orukuri has a potential deadly biological weapon that can be used to kill turians and quarians," she slowly reconciled. "And he's giving it to the Seppies."

"That is the long and short, yes," Liara confirmed.

Nel could only really respond one way.

"Well, fuck."

* * *

AN: We've had too long without an update on either story, so I decided to give you guys this. I hope you all enjoyed something different for this go around and liked the exploration of Saya's character as well as his place of work. You might recognize some call backs to a certain Tom Clancy game of note. Those are more or less deliberate. Saya is the ninja of the group and if I was going to pull inspiration from any other franchise it would be that one. I think the more important thing though was just showing everyone that Liara isn't the only one on the case here. There are other people working on this from other angles. She's not really alone, but she is kind of a rogue element regardless. That is what the Shadowbroker is after all.

I hope this was fun and I hope you forgive me for taking longer than usual to get this all to you. But as a special bonus, if you head to my profile page, you will find some new links to some more audioworks by Hellfox83 waiting there. He's made some awesome stuff recently and I'd love for you all to give it a listen. Seriously, it is some amazing stuff. You should find the links under his section where all the old ones are. I'll make sure you can see them, although it might take a while for them to appear since I've only just updated it.

Thank you as always and if any Tropers are here, do feel free to spruce up the TvTropes page when you can. It has been looking rather sparse honestly. Thanks in advance.


	6. Sisters in Arms

**Chapter 6: Sisters in Arms**

Nel usually wasn't much for science lectures and boring genetics talk. However, when the thing being discussed was a bio agent that targeted your specific DNA amino acids, you tended to listen. Vik had set the whole briefing up in Liara's room. Glyph, the little floating eyeball Liara kept around, gave technical analysis as Vik flicked through the information they had pulled from STG's files and elaborated further. He probably felt he was playing translator for the technical jargon, but Nel could just get the gist by seeing what was on screen. Pictures of Dextro Cells being assaulted by the bio agent, Strain-S3, and none of it was pretty.

The first image was fine, a normal dextro-based cell. Nothing to really comment on there. The next was the introduction of the strain. Almost at the second contact, the cell began to unravel. Glyph explained the specifics.

"Strain begins assault on membrane, dissolving it upon contact," the little synth stated. "Cytoplasm exposed, cellular breakdown begins in earnest."

"Cell is compromised in nanoseconds," Vik explained. "It can do whatever it wants after that."

The next slide showed a far more degraded cell, blackness enveloping most of the insides.

"Various sequences now inflamed," Glyph clarified. "Amino Acid instability achieved, enzymes broken apart as subject temperature rises exponentially."

"Strain basically makes you feel like every part of your body is on fire," Vik once again elaborated. "Among other things, once individual cells start failing, the body most likely goes into total shock. Depending on where it hits you, other symptoms could activate."

The next slide showed the nucleolus of the cell being practically lacerated as the strain reacted to its presence.

"Penultimate stage," Glyph stated. "The strain violently assaults heart of cell, ripping various compounds apart from each other before exhausting them."

"Body feels like its burning, suddenly it feels like it's coming apart," Vik explained.

The final slide showed a desiccated cell, nothing more than a blob of protoplasm. It wasn't even recognizable anymore as anything but a putrid puddle of organic slime.

"Final result," Glyph concluded. "Specimen functions ceased. All elements of cell torn apart or annihilated. What remains are simple base elements."

"That's just on a single cell removed from a dextro based insectoid specimen," Vik informed the others. "They never even went to full trials with animals. They had seen enough to know it wouldn't be pretty. STG shut the whole thing down, went a different route to solve that whole pest problem."

"So we don't even know what it could do to a full grown turian," Wrex noted.

"I imagine Orukuri and Balak have made their own educated guesses," Liara presumed. "Glyph, how long did the overall process take to destroy this cell?"

"Seconds, Shadow Broker," Glyph responded.

"Fuck," Nel snarled. "It doesn't waste time doesn't it."

"Without further testing they weren't able to determine how effective it would be on a larger scale," Vik stated, still sounding shaken. "Like I said, as soon as they figured out what they had, they shut it down and suppressed the whole project. Gag orders, reassignments, confiscation of materials, probably a few blood oaths, the works. Can't say I blame them, if even this much got out the damage to the Salarian Union would be devastating. The scandal would probably call for investigations, maybe a change in government leadership."

"That's not enough for Orukuri," Liara stated. "He wants something that can't be cleaned up with some apologies and resignations. He wants the turian people to be so enraged they start calling for blood."

"You mean demanding they pull out of the Council?" Wrex asked. "Why would this lead to that? This makes the salarians look bad, but the asari and humans have nothing to do with it."

"It won't stop Orukuri from finding an angle to put blame on them," Liara informed him. "We know the base of his attack, but not the full picture. We need more information, before he can finish the weapon."

"There's a lot of steps to go through before you can turn the inklings of a genetic-based pesticide into a full blown bio-weapon," Vik said, trying to sound reassuring. "The proper release mechanism for one, along with an appropriate delivery system. Both have to ensure the strain isn't damaged or reduced upon activation. More importantly, there's refinement of the thing. How it spreads, how it infects individual victims, how fast it works, how potent the agent is, there's a lot to go over there. They do it wrong, they at worst cause a minor outbreak that is contained in a few minutes or hours. Point is, we have time, not forever, but we have time."

"Then we work faster than them," Liara declared. "We have to put more pressure on Orukuri's operation on every front. We need to find where they're perfecting Strain-S3 and take it out of the equation."

"Where do we start?" Nel asked, hoping that the asari already had an idea.

"Their supply line, the Eclipse Sisters," Liara informed her. "If they're shuttling weapons, gear and drugs for the Blood Pack, they're doing the same for the Turian Separatists in some capacity as well. We hurt that supply chain, we slow down their bio-weapons development in the process. Maybe get some more information in the process if we're lucky."

"We got a lead on them?" Wrex asked.

"We might," she answered. "I've cross-referenced the intel Saya recovered from STG with that of my own agents. We're narrowing down the location of their main supply base now. Once we have something we're hitting it."

Nel smiled at that.

"Finally, something up my fucking alley," she chuckled. "After this shitty news, I really feel like cutting loose already."

"You're not the only one," Liara told her. "We need to hurt Balak's operation hard and this is part of that. The more pressure we put on him, the greater chance he or one of his cronies will make a mistake. And when that happens, we'll be there to take advantage of their rash behavior."

* * *

Nel decided to head to the armory to prepare her loadout for the upcoming mission. They had picked up a ton of guns from their various missions at this point and she wanted to be ready for whatever the Eclipse Sisters had to throw at her. When she got there, she found Kayap was looking through a few heavy weapons himself. They were all deactivated, of course, a safety precaution aboard a spaceship. Only small arms could be fired and only in designated areas, like the small test firing section just off to the side.

Nel was surprised to see the little spud about, he wasn't exactly so keen on guns. He had to use them, but of everyone here he was the one who liked fighting the least. He had stuck to his comfort zone for a while now, Covenant small arms with the occasional big gun his former allies had kept from him. Now he was eyeing a few of the heavier weapons from this universe. His main interest was the M-622 Avalanche, maybe because it looked the least intimidating of the bunch.

Normally Nel would ignore Kayap, but considering they were both here and interested in guns, she decided to do the opposite. Besides, she was curious as to what had brought him down here.

"Looking to upgrade your arsenal?" She asked.

"I need to get familiar with more of these guns," Kayap explained. "If I'm going to be of any use to you guys, I should get to know every heavy gun I can. That is my job now."

Weird how that had worked out. Nel never would've guessed that the Covies would put the little Unggoy in charge of heavy ordinance, but apparently that was something they got stuck with now and then. Kayap was very proficient in the bigger weapons too, another surprise. For someone so small he seemed to know how to make the most of big bangs.

"Why do the Covies give you guys the big guns?" Nel asked. "I thought you guys got sub-standard equipment half the time."

"We do, but heavy weapons are an exception only for distinguished fighters," Kayap explained. "You have to be given special permission by your unit leader. Most Unggoy who are allowed to carry them need to be trained for special operations and exhibit certain survival tactics."

"Like you?" Nel asked.

"My survival tactics involved trying to stay in cover as much as possible," Kayap clarified. "That's not what most special squads are looking for. They want to hold the line, show aggression, act like a real soldier. It's not that easy. Even if you're cleared for the gun, it's not exactly a blessing. You get something more devastating against the enemy, yeah, but you also have a bigger target on your back."

That's true, Nel thought. How many times did they teach her in training to go after heavy weapons operators in the field? Take down the rocket guy, protect the vehicles in the convoy, your tanks, that sort of thing. Made sense the same thing carried over to the Covenant.

"So they give you the heavy weapons because it means you might take distract the enemy from shooting your officers," Nel presumed. "The sangheili are too important to lose by handing them a big old Fuel Rod Cannon, huh?"

"That's one way of looking at it," Kayap confessed. "I still got training on how to use some heavy weapons just in case something came up in the heat of battle. I was never permitted to have my own though. First time I ever fired a Fuel Rod gun in combat was with you guys. Now though, I wanna learn more about the guns here."

Far be it from Nel to deny an aspiring gun nut. She picked up the Avalanche and presented it to him, holding it how she had been trained to hold them.

"What you got here is Avalanche, but you can just call it what it is, a big old freeze gun," she explained. "One concentrated shot of this baby instantly freezes pretty much any infantry unit. Minimal damage, sure, they're more than likely still alive. However, they've become so damn brittle that your backup can more or less mow them down before they thaw out. Perfect for big groups of foot soldiers."

Nel put it down and brought up the next weapon to show off, one of her favorites of course.

"The Firestorm is your heavy duty flamethrower," she stated. "None of that garbage backpack junk that the vorcha use. This one has a self-contained fuel source that does not explode from just any stray shot. Perfect against all forms of defense and dulls the regenerative abilities of vorcha and krogan. Might be a bit dangerous for you though. What with your need to breathe methane and all that."

"Yeah, probably not my thing," Kayap admitted.

Nel then picked up the next weapon, chuckling as she did. She let the capacitor unfold to better show off where the sparks would be if it was activated.

"The Arc Projector, lightning in the palm of your hand," she grinned menacingly. "You can fry most electronics in one shot with this bad girl. I had me a bad seppie bitch in this mech once, bearing down on me and my squad. One clean hit and her piece of shit robot suit was sparking. Course I had to charge it up the whole way, the longer you hold the trigger the bigger the shock, so to speak."

Kayap nodded in recognition, but then pointed to one last weapon. The one with the big hazard sign on it.

"What about that?" He asked. "The Cain I think?"

"Oh the Cain," Nel said grinning, but not picking it up. "Yeah, most people in my unit just called it the Mini Nuke Launcher. None of the radiation associated with its bigger cousins they put in warheads. Still a ton of firepower though. You hit anything with that, it's most likely not getting back up. Costs a fortune in heavy heat sinks to fire though."

"You ever use it in the army?" Kayap asked.

"Heh, once before all this ShadowNet at least yeah," Nel admitted. "Enemy gunship was strafing us and it seemed like the fastest way to end the slaughter. I got off a hit before it could turn its gun on me. I made the mistake of looking at the blast though, I'm lucky I'm still able to see. Even with my visor on, my eyes felt like they were burning. Thankfully, a good solid week of treatment prevented any permanent damage."

Kayap looked semi-impressed at that.

"You sure know your guns, Nel," he complimented.

"All thanks to the good old turian education system," she assured him. "If you need to train to be a soldier, go learn in a turian school. It will prepare you for everything. Course, the real school comes in boot camp. Damn that was awesome."

"Wasn't it hard?" Kayap asked confused.

"Oh grueling, horrible," Nel recounted, smiling as she did. "I ended up with bruises on my exoskeleton and mud in every crevice! It was hell to get through. I cut, scrapped and broke something every day. Loved every second of it."

She could tell that was only confusing Kayap more, so she tried to better explain.

"You need to understand, I'd been dreaming of boot since I was a kid at that point," she informed him. "The day I'd come of age and join the military, when I'd become part of something greater. I finally got the adventure they had always promised. No other birthday present after that could compete."

"Hard to imagine anyone would like getting conscripted," Kayap mumbled sadly.

Nel was a bit more understanding to that point as far as Kayap was concerned and she knew why. Covie boot camp was probably nothing like it was in the Turian Hierarchy. Her experience was fun for her, but not for him.

"Well, it's not like what they do in the Covenant," she tried to explain. "You can leave after your service is up. They don't make you stay."

"I guess they just never made it sound like an adventure or even a duty to others," Kayap responded rather succinctly. "They never even bothered. If you didn't go, your life was forfeit and so was that of your family. It was penance, you had to go to absolve yourself of sin, to prove you had faith in the cause."

"I can't really blame you for not liking it given everything I've seen the Covies do to you guys," Nel confessed. "Even when I was training folks at that camp, it always felt weird how the unggoy were more picked on than anyone. And I don't think the sangheili ever appreciated my methods. I'm guessing turian standard weren't as harsh or as unforgiving as they preferred."

"Technically training in the Covenant for an unggoy is rather sparse," Kayap clarified. "You're taught how to shoot, how to move, how to obey. They never really teach you how to survive though. Just how to fight. You have to figure out how to keep alive on your own. They don't expect you to last. Not even through training actually, let alone your first battle."

Cannon fodder, that was what his species was to the Covenant. Nel was disgusted by the thought. A turian life was expendable in the service of something greater, yes. They never taught you to waste your life though, but to spend it. To the Covenant, the unggoy were only good to waste and that was sickening.

"Well, you survived," Nel told him. "You showed them."

"I survived because Liara saved me," Kayap corrected her. "Well, spared me and showed me another way. Now I just want to be useful to her. If that means fighting, then I need to get better at fighting."

"You're plenty useful, Kay," Nel informed him. "Not just to Liara, but just in general. You got more moves and skills than you give yourself credit for. The fact you're still here proves that."

Kayap just shrugged, nodding lightly at the compliment.

"Still probably nowhere as good a fighter as you though," he told her.

"Yeah, but who is?" Nel said smugly. "Nothing to get down about. You do you."

Nel picked up one of the assault rifles and gave it a look over.

"I'm just glad to be here," Kayap stated. "Glad I'm fighting for something that's actually worth it for once. If only more unggoy would join us though, see that there's an escape."

"Hey, you never know," Nel told him. "There might be a few unggoy out there who are just like what you were once and are looking for a way out. We beat the Covies, maybe they find that way."

"The problem always comes back to family though," Kayap admitted. "If they leave, there would be reprisals. That's usually enough to make anyone stay. You know how it is right?"

With family? Yeah, Nel knew how it was. She just wished she could say the same for her own. Maybe not all of them, but just one person. It was the one thing about boot camp she hated, the one thing she could never get over.

She remembered when she graduated, all decked out in her new dress uniform. Everyone was there, even mom and dad. She had almost thought he wouldn't come. Instead, she ended up wishing he hadn't. All through the ceremony he just looked... disappointed. Just scowling constantly over it all. Even when she waved to him, as she came up to receive her promotion stripes, he couldn't even be bothered to acknowledge that. He had just sighed.

He never wanted her in his precious army, now she was and she spent the rest of her time there trying to prove she belonged.

"Yeah," Nel finally said. "Family does get to you like that."

The conversation was interrupted by her commlink going off, same with Kayap's.

" _Everyone, briefing room,"_ Liara informed the team. _"We have a lead."_

Thank the spirits, Nel thought. If anything could get her mind off family it was finding assholes to shoot.

* * *

Tracking Varna had been easier than they thought. One of their smugglers, Deinu, had been located by a Shadow Agent. Thanks to the intel they recovered from STG, they were able to stake out a few of her regular hangouts. Eventually, she had visited one and now she had a tracker on her ship. All Liara had to do was follow the ship back to the Eclipse Sisters' base. It didn't take long, the Sisters were located in an old deserted mining colony boom town on some desolate little dustball of a planet, surrounded by various rock formations. It had long been abandoned by the corporation that had set it up when all the resources had dried up. Now, it was the Eclipse Sisters' main base of operations. The last refuge for their little chapter.

Liara now observed their intended target from afar, her binoculars scanning the otherwise unassuming mess of dilapidated homes and structures. The Sisters had fixed it up somewhat, turning it into a decent merc fortress, but it had clearly seen better days. Liara presumed the main center of operations was in the large processing building near the back of the dead colony. They'd need to go through a ton of enemies just to get to it though.

"Wish we had a tank," Nel said, keeping low in the rocks. "This would be a lot easier if we had a tank."

"We have krogan, they technically count," Liara joked somewhat. "Speaking of, Wrex should be ready to move soon. We all remember the plan?"

"Yeah, yeah, they bust through the west gate, we hit the other side with the Shadow Troops," Nel recounted. "Meet up in the middle of town, push to processing plant. Really, I can remember a briefing from literally half an hour ago. I'm not stupid."

"Just making sure," Liara informed her. "We haven't performed a straightforward assault in a while."

"Like falling off a speeder, you never forget how," Nel assured her.

"Why must we equate the ability to conduct a successful attack with abject failure?" Vik asked. "That's... that's not exactly a great metaphor."

"Oh relax," Nel groaned. "Stay behind me and you'll be fine. I soak up all the fire anyway."

"Yeah, because that really makes me want to stand behind you," Vik mumbled.

At that moment, and explosion erupted along the western gate of the compound. The calling card of any krogan assault force, loud and abrasive. Predictably, the majority of the defenders moved towards the gap in their perimeter as krogan charged the blown open gate. That left the east gate summarily less guarded. As far as Liara was concerned, it was all going perfectly.

"Move," she orered. "We need to get through that gate before they realize their mistake."

ShadowNet Mercs moved forward, jumping up from behind the rock formations and towards the East Gate. The Eclipse Sisters didn't see them until the firing started. The first line of sentries were taken down as they reached the perimeter. A rocket slammed into the gate next, blowing it wide open. Liara forced her through the wreckage, her pistol at the ready. She spotted two Eclipse Sisters staring her down from some barricades as she emerged. She let loose few shots at one while sending a throw attack at the other, sending the Sister flying through the air.

"Move down the street towards the center," she ordered her people. "We'll squeeze them between ourselves and Wrex's krogan. Nel, on point."

Nel moved up to the front, her Revenant armed with inferno rounds. She marched forward, blazing a path of fire as she headed up the middle of the street. Her armor and shields protected her from enemy fire for the most part, allowing the Shadownet mercs the time they needed to get to cover and start moving through the buildings.

Eclipse Sisters appeared in the upper windows of some of the old homes. They began firing down on Nel, forcing the turian to move back. She returned fire, spewing incendiaries into the windows. She shot down two of the sisters and forced the others to retreat back inside.

"We need to watch up top," Nel warned. "They got more inside each of these structures."

"I'm on it," Liara assured her. "Get to cover and help the others clear the buildings. No matter what, we keep going down the street. We have to meet up with Wrex or this assault is going to fail."

Nel ducked into cover behind an old porch, firing into the next building over. Sure enough, the Sisters inside returned fire. They turned their guns onto Nel, giving Liara the chance to move forward. Liara burst through the doorway, sending a singularity to pick up two of the Eclipse sisters and then detonate them with a following Warp attack. As the biotic explosion died down, Liara moved to the steps, her pistol's trigger clutched between her fingers. One of the Sisters jumped in the way upstairs, slinging a biotic attack to throw the asari back. Liara banked left, letting the biotic attack sling by her. She then used pull to latch onto the enemy asari and send her careening into Liara's fist. The mercenary thug down, Liara rushed up the steps to the top level.

When she got there, she found it swarming with Eclipse. One of them was taking cover behind an old desk of sorts. Liara used her biotics to send the desk flying into the merc, which in turn sent her screaming out a window in the next moment. Liara sprayed her automatic pistol at the other Sisters, killing one and forcing the others to duck. Liara moved to cover behind a corner as mercs returned fire, but she was ready for that. She activated another singularity, lifting two of the Sisters up. She then sent a powerful twin throw attack into both of them at the same time. The subsequent biotic detonation killed those sisters and sent two others flying out the windows to the street below.

Liara moved through the wreckage of the floor and clambered out onto the balcony now. She could see below that Nel was pushing up Shadownet. Vik wasn't far behind, providing tech support. His drone patrolled the outer areas of their advance while Nel kept her focus forward. When one of the Sisters jumped from an alley, Vik's overload depleted her shield allowing Nel to gun her down.

In the distance, Liara could see the heavy fighting with the krogan getting closer, plumes of fire and explosions erupting across the street. Wrex was certainly doing his job. She would need to live up to it. Liara scrambled onto the roof of her building, forcing her way onto it. She then took a running leap towards the next structure, using her biotics to help lift her along. She landed in a rolling position before taking a knee. There was a skylight nearby, moving over to it she saw inside was another group of Eclipse Sisters.

The best way to deal with this situation was to disorient them. She threw prepared a smoke grenade and smashed it through the skylight. She followed it through once the smoke had saturated the area. She dropped in and sent a throw attack to knock the nearest Sisters off their feet. She turned to stasis another, allowing her some breathing room and then rushed for cover. She ducked behind an old couch as bullets screamed around the area in a frantic fire fight.

The smoke mostly cleared and Liara popped up to return fire, gunning down two before her stasis wore off on the last one. Her biotic shockwave rippled towards Liara, forcing her to flee as the couch was up-ended and smashed into the wall. Liara rolled into a kneeling position and unloaded her clip into the merc, taking her out with a wild spray. She heard footsteps coming up the stairs, bounding up fast. she activated her singularity just as the Eclipse Merc appeared. She wasted no time in following it with Warp to detonate the rest of incoming mercs.

Not wanting to risk heading downstairs, Liara moved for the nearby window. She vaulted through it into the alleyway, stomping down in the dirt once more. Nel's advance had kept pace with her, as she watched the turian kick down a door and begin spraying wildly inside. She then threw a cluster grenade deeper inside, the resulting explosion blew out several windows.

Vik was close by, moving along a wall towards an alley. An Eclipse Sister rushed, trying to hit him with a biotic punch. Vik fell back and activated his omni-tool, hitting the Merc with an incineration blast that set on fire. He followed it up with a shotgun blast that dropped her. He then picked himself up an followed Nel into the next house.

Liara exited the alley to continue moving, as she did Saya joined her, pointing to what appeared to be a machine gun nest up on a roof top across the way. It was pinning down some Shadownet mercs near some boxes, forcing their heads down.

"I got it," Liara assured him. "Keep moving."

Saya nodded and rushed ahead. Liara scanned the crowd and spotted Kayap bringing up the rear with a heavy weapon. It looked like an Avalanche. Strange for him, but Liara supposed he needed to familiarize more with other weapons. She called him over to her position and pointed to the nest.

"Think you can help me take it?" She asked.

"I'll can give it a shot," he exclaimed.

Liara moved forward with him, getting him to some cover to set up. He aimed the Avalanche upwards just enough and fired. The freezing blast rocketed out and slammed into the machine gun nest, freezing the merc manning it. Liara then sent a throw attack right at it, sending the frozen sister flying away to shatter elsewhere.

"Stay with me," Liara told Kayap. "We might have bigger problems soon."

Liara advanced along the street, soon spotting Saya again preparing to make an entry into another building. Some old drinking hole from the looks of it. She decided to back him up, moving towards the structure as the salarian blew open the door. As he charged in you could see the flash of a blade amid sounds of gunfire. Liara managed to get inside to see at least three Sisters cut down, while another with an omni-blade tried to hole Saya off. A fifth sister popped up from behind the bar, armed with a shotgun and unloaded at Liara and Kayap. The two ducked to the floor behind a table, letting it absorb the shots for them.

"We got to keep them off Saya," Liara told Kayap. "Cover the right side of the room, I'll take the one behind the bar."

Liara moved out, using singularity to lift her opponent off the floor. Then filled her full of enough holes to send her flying back into the assortment of drinks behind her. In response, two Sisters emerged from the upper floor and began spraying lead down from the overlooking balcony. Liara rolled away from the shots and returned fire, but it was Kayap who managed to get both of them. A single blast from his Avalanche froze both of them easily, Liara was able to finish them off with some well placed shots, shattering the mercs to pieces.

Saya in the meantime had managed to get the better of his assailant, stunning her with his free hand before cutting her down for good. The old drinking hole was clear, they needed to move on. Liara led them to the backdoor, forcing it open with her bare hands. The rusted old slab of metal gave way, revealing a large force of Eclipse Sisters fighting among some assorted barricades. The Shadownet mercs were pushing up on one end and on the other approached Wrex's Urdnot soldiers.

As he two forces began to meet, Liara joined the fray. She fired her pistol into a number of Sisters, taking them out before they could see their flank had been exposed. Kayap fired another Avalanche blast into the middle of the group, freezing three more Sisters before Krogan Carnage shots shattered them to bits. Nel moved in with Vik backing her up, setting down a turret drone to add to her already impressive display of firepower. When next Nel threw a cluster grenade into the mess of enemies, destroying a barricade with them, it was at that point the enemy line broke.

Eclipse Sisters began running away, back towards the main mining structure, in droves. They fired back sporadically at the Krogan and Shownet Mercs, but it was fleeting. They knew they were outgunned. Liara's plan had worked, if only the first phase of course. The point was they were inside and they needed to press the advantage.

Liara regrouped with the others to find Wrex, who stomped onto the battlefield like it was just a day at the park. He grinned at the aftermath around him, the old abandoned colony in flames.

"A good victory," he observed. "But we still have one final objective to go."

"Yes, and looks like a good number of the Sisters will be waiting for us," Liara added. "It won't be an easy fight once we're there. They may have diminished numbers, but we've lost the element surprise by now. And we don't know what they have in there either."

"Maybe a ton of biotic drugs?" Nel suggested. "I mean, they were giving the shit away."

"Possibly, but they're shipping more than just their modified red sand," Liara reminded her. "They could have a few heavy weapons in there and their latest arrival to Balak's alliance with the Covenant might mean other surprises."

"Or they'll take whatever they can carry and run," Wrex suggested. "Including Varna. She doesn't look like the type who's going to commit to a last stand. Thugs like her prefer to live to fight another time on their terms."

"So we should move fast," Vik suggested. "Even if we can't stop Varna, we can keep her from delivering anymore weapons to the Separatists or Blood Pack."

"Yeah, cut off their supply lines," Nel agreed. "Really hurt them this time."

"Then we move ahead now, leave most of the assault force to consolidate here," Liara decided. "They can surround the Main Processing Building and try to stop anyone from getting out. Whatever happens inside though, remember, Varna is priority. She's our first real link in this chain for whatever VykurCorp is up to. We get her, we might actually find out what Orukuri is planning."

Everyone nodded in agreement and before long they were making tracks for the main processing building. Where Varna, and hopefully answers, awaited.

* * *

Wrex brought down the door easy enough, it wasn't exactly grade A material anymore. The decades of rust and decay had weakened the super structure. The inside of the processing plant didn't look much better. Crumbling walls, crusty ceiling, clear chemical corrosion on quite literally everything, it was clear the new tenants had done nothing to really slow or repair the state of the old facility.

"This place screams staph infection," Vik grimaced. "I think I saw pictures of it in a handbook back on the Flotilla. The chapter on why we double check suit seals and acidic protective layering."

"I'll admit, I'm not interested in touching anything in here myself," Nel agreed.

They hadn't gotten three feet inside before the old intercom system started crackling. The sound buzzed in their ears for a few seconds as the microphone adjusted. But it was the sound that followed that became far less pleasant.

"Liara T'Soni, heh, Trox warned me you'd be a problem sooner or later."

Everyone knew that voice, they had heard it in Liara's recordings from the Forerunner dig site.

"Varna," Liara said with a snarl. "So, she hasn't left yet."

"You know, I should probably thank you," Varna continued, her voice dripping with malice. "Seriously, if it weren't for you apparently sending Commander Shepard our way after that Justicar, I wouldn't be in the position I am today. So many dead Sisters, so many people lording over me gone. I never had a chance to lead the chapter before all that went down. Now look at me. I'm living the big time at last. Not bad for a street thug, eh?"

"Yeah, yeah, you talk a big game over how you got lucky all your friends died," Nel huffed. "Getting promoted because you're the only one left to take charge does not mean you deserve it, lady."

Liara knew Varna couldn't hear Nel's comeback. Not all intercoms were two way after all. But that didn't stop the Sister from responding in a way.

"I don't know what you and your little band of dipshits think you're going to accomplish here and I don't really care," Varna claimed. "This was just a temporary situation anyway. Thanks to the Blood Pack, the Eclipse Sisters are going to be moving up in the ranks soon. All those high minded Salarians and other Asari running the show, they're on the way out. Before long, I'm going to be running all of Eclipse."

Wrex stifled a laugh at the very idea.

"Seriously? Is she deluded on top of having an ego?" He asked.

"Trox probably fed her that line," Liara hypothesized.

"Well she's stupider than she looks if she believes him," Wrex stated. "Guessing she can't tell when she's being used."

"Once I get everything loaded onto my ships, me and my girls are out of here," Varna declared. "And to make sure you stay out of our way until we're packed, here's something to keep you occupied."

Liara did not like the sound of that and she didn't have to wait long to find out exactly what they were going to have to deal with. Clanking out of several corridors and side rooms appeared a number of mechs, LOKI and FENRIS models to be exact.

"Cover, now!" Liara ordered.

The team moved to better ground as the Mechs opened fire. Wrex shot at the currently charging FENRIS mechs. Saya stabbed any that dared get to close to him, plunging his sword into the face of one before turned to slash the other. Liara attempted to return fire on the LOKI mechs in the meantime. She knew they couldn't waste time here though. As Varna had so clearly stated, the mechs were here to keep them pinned down. Varna wanted time to load up her goods and get out of here. It was the only way she'd save her commission and standing with Trox and Balak. She could lose the base, she could not lose her customers' shipments.

Liara looked to see Vik fiddling with his omni-tool while his drone turret held the mechs at bay. His increasing frustration became more apparent when he start spewing a dozen so words that even Liara's translator couldn't decipher.

"Vik?" She called over.

"There's some kind of anti-hacking subroutine installed in them, I can't turn them!" He snarled in anger. "Argh! Bosh'tets!"

"Then we do it the hard way, shoot them all down," Liara ordered. "Does overload still work?"

Vik switched to said function and fired it at one of the packs of LOKI mechs. Arcs of electricity sparked among them momentarily before the fell over into smoking heaps.

"Thankfully, yes," he reported.

"Good, focus on that angle," Liara told him. "Saya cloak and go ahead, clear out as many as you can ahead of us. We cannot let Varna escape with all her cargo, we don't want it getting to the Separatists."

Saya nodded before cloaking and vanishing ahead. A LOKI's head getting lopped off suddenly in the flash of a blade was the only indication of which direction he was going.

"Nel, Wrex, cut us a path," Liara ordered next. "Kayap, conserve your heavy ammunition for now. We'll need it just in case they have something bigger waiting for us."

Kayap put his Avalanche away, bringing out his plasma pistol instead. Its overcharged shots managed to disable a few of the LOKI mechs easily. While Wrex and Nel blazed a trail of bullets through the mech ranks. While they were doing that, Liara let loose with her singularity, sending a powerful biotic torrent directly ahead of them.

"Wrex! Hit it!"

The krogan responded with a warp attack, striking the heart of the singularity. The subsequent biotic detonation ripped the various mechs apart with ease. There was now a gap in their perimeter they could exploit to get deeper into the facility.

"Move, we have a lot of ground to cover," Liara told her team. "Wrex, Kayap, we'll move along the right corridor. Vik, Nel, take the left. Push through these mechs to loading bays. We need to stop their shuttles and destroy whatever it is they're trying to ship out."

"Sounds like this will involve explosions, I'm in," Nel concurred. "Come on, Bucket! Lets get to it!"

Vik for once didn't argue, rushing behind Nel as she fired her assault rifle at the remains of the mech forces, punching through to the other side of their lines. Wrex didn't need to waste any ammunition to do the same, he just charged forward screaming bloody murder. Several mechs were sent flying as the big krogan busted through another broken down door.

"Try not to destroy too much of the superstructure," Liara warned as she followed. "We don't know how stable this place is after all these years."

"Hey, don't spoil my fun, Liara," Wrex responded jokingly. "It's been a while since I've cut loose after all. I'll watch which walls I burst through don't worry."

"Worry?" Liara responded coyly, "With you? Never."

Wrex gave a hearty laugh as they moved into the facility proper.

* * *

Even though the mechs couldn't be hacked, Vik still had more than a few tricks up his sleeve to deal with them. Mainly his combat drone and turret, the former of which rolled forward into the fray to blast several machines at close range before exploding among them. Whatever survived the drone's detonation, Nel cleaned up with sustained sprays from her assault rifle. When they moved up, Vik dropped the Turret to provide covering fire.

Mechs weren't known for advanced tactics, they were there to provide extra guns, nothing more. They could delay you, but their strength was in numbers, not in brains. That made repeating the same strategy for a bit viable in this case. The mechs didn't adjust at all to this plan, falling into the same trap constantly and allowing Vik and Nel to push forward rather quickly. There were still tons of these mechs though, so it was still rough going, with every corridor they entered soon filled with the sound of bullets.

"How far did Saya get?" Nel asked as she ducked behind cover. "He better not be invisible and hiding just out of sight."

Nel popped up to deliver a clean pair of headshots to two LOKI mechs. They both toppled over, twitched for a few seconds and then exploded. A satisfying kill, but Nel was already getting tired of dealing with these stupid bots all the same.

"It would've been pretty easy," Vik suggested, reloading his shotgun. "LOKI mechs don't have the advanced thermal imaging most military bots have to counter cloaking tech. He could be way deeper than any of us by now."

"He wouldn't get that far ahead without backup," Nel stated. "That's more my style than his."

Nel popped up again and fired another burst, ripping off the arm and leg of another Mech. It fell to the floor in a broken heap, causing another mech to trip over its flailing body. However, what came around the bend next was not nearly so stupid. It was an Eclipse Sister, blasting back at them with her own assault rifle. She was soon joined by others as they mixed in with the mechs still operating. Apparently they were deeper inside the facility than they thought.

"Great, so much for easy targets," Nel grimaced, doing her best to stay in cover as bullets bounced off the rusted steel. "We must be near one of their store rooms, only reason they'd run out to shoot at us now."

Chances were that said storeroom was packed wall to wall with supplies. The Sisters couldn't get all of it out in time so the next best option was to try and defend it. Otherwise Nel and Vik would've busted inside and caught them with their pants down. They were greedy, opportunistic criminals, but they weren't stupid. Not that stupid anyway.

"I guess they didn't have much faith in these mechs either then," Vik reasoned. "We need to get past them and find that storage space before they get too much of their stuff loaded."

"I hear that," Nel concurred. "Drop a turret and watch my back, I'm going to take them from the side."

Vik nodded, dropping another hovering turret station into the fray. Bullets chattered away from its barrel, forcing Sisters to take cover while mechs absorbed the shots. Nel made a mad dash towards a nearby door, rushing as fast as she could to reach it. Before she could even get close though, a biotic attack smashed into her side, throwing her into a wall. Her armor absorbed much of the impact, but she was still hurt somewhat. She turned to fire on the offending Eclipse Sister, rolling onto her back and letting a barrage of bullets fly. She managed to force her head down at least, but soon a shockwave attack was rippling towards her. Nel rolled away, just barely, as the attack sped by her. That got her in the sights of one Sister's rifle. When the enemy merc tried to shoot though, her gun exploded in her hands.

Nel barely had time to get to her feet as she looked to Vik's position, omni-tool activated and out. He had pulled a sabotage at the last second, the clever bucket. Nel just gave an approving nod as she ducked into the doorway of the nearby room.

Vik remained outside, unsure of Nel's true intentions or plan. He assumed she was going to get behind them all and shoot them in the back. That left him to hold out the front and keep them busy. He was just lucky he had his drone and turret to keep the bad guys at bay, for a little bit at least.

He had his drone move up first, absorbing fire while he rushed to a new position. The drone fired several blasts at the mechs and the mercs. The robots kept doing what they did before, advance with little regard to their safety. The mercs were smarter, targeting the drone specifically, knowing they couldn't let it get close to them. That gave Vik the chance to slide in behind a stack of old crates. Bullets started chewing up his cover as soon as he settled, but the second they stopped he popped up to blow one of the mech's heads clean off.

This small victory was interrupted when two warp blast attacks smashed Vik's sentry turret. The subsequent biotic detonation destroying it with ease. With one less gun on the field, Vik knew he had to rely on his own head. He knew his overload attack had an area of effect to could hit others nearby, so he activated his omni-tool and took aim at one of the mechs. The electrical assaulted shorted out the mech's systems and also ravaged the shields of a nearby Eclipse Sister. The pain shorted through her shields and into her body, forcing the asari to stand up. Vik used that moment to shoot at her, blowing the Sister into the wall with the force of his shotgun.

That was when a throw attack knocked him back though, signaling that he was all out of luck. Where the hell was Nel, he asked himself. At that moment, the wall on the right side of the corridor exploded. The mercs and mechs, all packed into the small area, were engulfed in flames and shrapnel, their bodies flung about and robotic limbs blown off. Appearing from behind the hole was Nel, her assault rifle chattering away at the now flanked asari. The Sisters could hardly react to the sudden emergence of the heavily armed and armored turian within their ranks. All any of them could do was retreat, lunging away from the battle with biotics or trying to spray Nel back into cover as they fell back.

Vik poked his head up as the fighting subsided, Nel smashing a mech's head with her foot as it tried to claw at her leg. The quarian had a mixture of relief and annoyance on his face.

"What took you so long?" He asked.

"I had trouble getting the damn high explosive grenade to stick to the wall," she explained. "I'm not a krogan, I can't just ram through steel. Even if it is rusted."

"Your plan was to blow up a wall?" Vik asked, baffled.

"Well I was hoping to find a door to get around," Nel clarified. "But there was a ton of debris and shit and I was thinking they might be expecting that since they saw me run off. I knew I couldn't have you waiting on me, so I improvised."

For once, Vik was happy she improvised. Even if it was with a certain degree of recklessness. At least it was recklessness that was directed at saving his ass. He was not about to complain in that regard.

"Well I'm glad it worked at least," he told her. "Lets get after them. Their storeroom can't be too far ahead."

Nel nodded in agreement and led the way forward. They of course didn't get too far before a shockwave attack rippled out towards them. Nel and Vik slunk to either side of the corridor, the turian aiming down her sight. She let her trigger finger rip, bullets slamming into the offending Eclipse Sister. They braced for the next Sister to take her place, but none came. The others must've kept going.

They made it to a half-open door just a few feet away from where their fire fight had taken place. Inside, they found their target, a storeroom filled with crates upon crates of supplies. A cursory glance at some of the of the warning labels or even serial descriptions on the side revealed what was in them.

"High-grade explosives, Biotic Amps, heavy weapons and..." Nel knelt at one of the nearby boxes, opening it up to reveal several canisters of a red swirling gas. "There it is, Big Sister's special brew for biotics."

"This is way more than we expected," Vik observed, astonished at the sheer volume. "For a gang that's fallen on hard times they certainly got a lot of supply."

"Big galaxy, everyone needs something shipped," Nel stated. "And the Sister did just get a ton of clients after all."

"The weapons I can see, where are they getting all the Biotic Boosting Sand?" Vik asked.

"Maybe this place isn't just for smuggling after all," Nel suggested.

Before she could elaborate, blazing tracer fire struck near her head. Nel and Vik ducked behind some boxes as a small squad of Eclipse Sisters and a good chunk of mechs, began shooting at them.

"Seriously, where is Saya?" Vik demanded. "We could use his cool sword with the exploding gel right now!"

Nel crested her eyes over the top of her cover, scanning the area for an opportunity. She spotted it with three crates loaded with explosive ordinance. Too greatly spaced out to be a danger on their own, but together they were dangerous. She came up with an idea.

"You think you can get a drone over to that crate on the far right?"

Vik looked over to what she was pointing at.

"He can get there," he told her. "Why?"

Nel looked for a door to exit out of, she spotted it on the far left side of the level. A straight run from their position across the catwalk. Pulling out a grenade, she readied herself.

"The second I move, you keep running with me, do not stop," she ordered.

"This is going to get loud, isn't it?" Vik asked nervously.

"You wanna keep this shit out of their hands, right?" Nel asked. "Just get the drone moving."

Vik activated the drone and sent it off on a self-destruct mission, to detonate the explosive crate. Nel kept her cluster grenade ready, counted to three and then took off. Vik was right behind her, dropping a sentry turret to cover them as they ran. Mid run, Nel tossed her cluster grenade over at two other crates. She then fired a stream of bullets into its descending arch. Before long and explosion erupted in the air.

The secondary bombs struck the two containers of explosives, just as Vik's drone reached its own destination. The whole storeroom was rocked with fire, pillars of it reaching to the ceiling. Nel and Vik bull rushed through the exit and kept could hear more erupting crates, more explosions, a fireball erupted from the doorway they had just left. Nel doubted anything else had gotten out of there.

"Well, they won't be using those guns," Nel reasoned.

"Can we not do that again?" Vek asked. "I mean it worked but-"

Nel quieted him, hearing something nearby. Voices or something? More mercs? It was coming from a nearby room. She steadied herself and moved to the doorway, Vik behind her. Entering it, she scanned the area and could see only bodies. Lots of dead, sliced up bodies. All Eclipse Sisters, all high level given their uniforms. Standing amid the carnage was one black clad salarian with a sword.

"Oh so this is where you were all this time," Nel observed. "Having fun without us."

Saya said nothing, but one could tell he was glaring.

"I think he was covering our flank," Vik noted. "Your explosions do attract a lot of attention."

Nel supposed he was right, it would explain the smaller squad of mercs in the store room after all. That was not entirely important though for the moment. The fact that they had linked up with Saya was. Despite being disappointed she had missed out on seeing some cool STG ninja action, they still had a job to do.

"Well, since we're all together now, lets head to the landing pads," Nel stated.

Saya nodded, pointing behind him to another doorway. He didn't wait long before taking off, Nel and Vik following him. They had torn through a good chunk of the enemy, but chances were the shuttle area was going to be packed with enemies regardless. Every Merc who knew where this was going was no doubt running towards them now, if not there already. They still had a decent fight ahead of them.

* * *

Liara and Wrex entered a large room. They had thought it would be storage space laden with cargo. They were only half right. Inside was a fully operational production line and lab. It was crude, almost primitive, but it had everything. Packing equipment, mixers, industrial ovens, boilers, everything you needed for a high grade operation that only served one purpose, drug production. And from all the red caking the walls, equipment, floors and even the ceiling, it was clear what that product was. Red Sand, more specifically the Eclipse Sister's own brand, Minagen X3. The stuff they were trying to hock onto the Seppies.

Technically they had only picked it up when a volus merchant delivered it to them and muddled up their smuggling operations with the stuff. However, from the looks of it they embraced the drug ultimately and were now looking to perfect it. This place wasn't just where they were storing stuff, as they could see from the boxes upon boxes in the corner. This was where the survivors of Shepard's attack had relocated their entire drug operation.

"Well, this is... unexpected," Wrex observed.

"No wonder they tried so hard to keep this place hidden," Liara reasoned. "This is their main source of income and they knew they couldn't hold this place in their shape. They lose this and they'll never recover."

"Shows what you know."

Stomping out of the back room, bursting through bolted doors, appeared a huge YMIR. Not the average kind though, normal YMIRs were just huge, hulking and only had two weapons options. This one was armed with the regular missile and machine gun cannon arms, but it also packed a pair of automatics lining either side of its head, a flamethrower attached to the arm and a pair of missile pods strapped to its back.

"Like it?" Came the voice from the machine. "I commissioned the upgrades myself. Thicker armor, better guns, the works."

The voice was clearly Varna's, even if slightly distorted from the electronic filter. Liara grimaced at the mech, her disapproval firm.

"Are you that much of a coward, Varna?" She demanded to know. "You won't even face us yourself?"

"I'm remote controlling this, it's as good as being there in person," Varna claimed. "Besides, if attack drones are good enough for the Alliance in a fight..."

"You're hardly the Alliance," Liara spat back. "You're just a petty thug playing drug lord."

"I'm not playing shit, pureblood," Varna's voice snarled. "I got this job through being the baddest fucking asari around. I clawed and beat and killed every bitch who dared say otherwise until I was the last one standing. And from the ashes of all that I built this!"

"You found a scummy pit of rot and decay, moved in and set up your little operation inside," Liara corrected her. "And the only reason anyone followed you in the first place was because Shepard killed everyone else more qualified. You earned nothing."

"Wasea's death was just my opening, so what if I took it?" Varna screamed back in anger. "All my life no one has ever fucking respected me. Not my mother who died piss drunk. Not my deadbeat worthless shit of a father. Not the fucking pissant cops who threw me in jail. Not the assholes I met in prison who punted me around like a chew toy. No one! Everyone in my life thought they were better than me, guess where they all are now? DEAD! Fucking dead! And you're about to become just another body on the pile, T'Soni!"

The mech aimed its missile cannon arm at Liara, prompting her and her team to rush to cover as projectile rocketed towards them. It exploded against the back wall, as Liara braced against her cover. Bullets sprayed across the room as the YMIR smashed through the production line, rampaging across the floor. Wrex fired at the mech's head, but the bullets seemed to bounce right off the shields.

"Of course she upgraded the shields," the krogan groaned. "She blew most of her credits on this damn thing, didn't she?"

"Well it's effective," Liara told him. "We need to kill it. Spread out, do not let it keep focus on any one of us."

"That won't be too hard," Wrex reasoned, arming a carnage shot. "She seems very easy to provoke."

He fired the carnage shot, hitting the YMIR square in the arm. The mech instantly turned on the krogan, firing every machine gun at Wrex's position as it strafed the area.

"Oh Carnage? You thought that would work on this Mech?"

Wrex absorbed both the excessive street speak and the incoming bullets, staying behind the lab equipment. Glass shattered, steel ripped, but Wrex stayed calm. He'd been in far worse situations in his very long life. He blasted a few shots blindly at the rampaging machine, intent on keeping it off Liara and Kayap as long as possible.

Liara circled around close, but she wasn't targeting the mech. She had her eye on what the said mech was currently smashing. Varna clearly didn't care about her drug operation anymore, she was in full "burn everything and everyone" mode. And because she wasn't even in the room, she cared even less about what she was doing to it. So she didn't see the fact that her little rampage had dislodged the various wiring from the machinery. Mainly the giant mixing machine that the mech was currently under. The one sparking and zapping and barely holding together. Liara sprayed bullets onto it, dislodging the metal plate around the wires. She then powered up her biotics and sent it flying towards the mixer.

The various electronics were dislodged, wires and cables spilled down onto the mech. There was a huge flash of sparks. The mech flailed around, its head twitching randomly. Eventually the mixer's power died out, but the mech quickly rebooted. Varna's voice, now even more distorted by the damage screamed out of it as it turned toward's Liara's position.

"You think I need shields to kill you people?" Varna snarled. "This mech is still a fucking beast, either way! Bring it the fuck on if you think you're so tough!"

The mech lashed out with its flamethrower, spewing a torrent of fire across the room as it advanced on Liara's position. With few options, Liara assaulted the mech with a Warp attack as she fled from the surging flames.

"That ain't enough to bust through this thing's shell!" Varna claimed.

That was when Wrex made his move, flinging a powerful throw attack right into the mech. The biotic detonation resulted in sending the YMIR flying backwards into one of the cookers, busting off the door. That wasn't enough to kill it though, nor destroy its armor, but it did enrage Varna.

"I see what you're doing," she growled. "You wanna divide and conquer, huh? Well I know how to resolve that problem."

The YMIR launched a blazing storm of missiles from the pods on its back. Dozens of tiny projectiles shot out, targeting either Liara or Wrex. Even the ever powerful and steadfast Wrex had to move quickly. He vaulted over his cover and made a mad dash for part of the assembly line. The lab area was destroyed and Wrex found himself thrown into the machinery by the shockwave somewhat, but he was at least in one piece.

At the same time, Liara reached out with her biotics to create a barrier to block the incoming missiles. The projectiles exploded against the kinetic barricade, but when Varna added a shot from the YMIR's arm cannon it was too much. The blast from the larger missile sent Liara flying, flipping over an oven and landing behind it. She sat herself up best she could, but soon could feel heat all around her. It wasn't from the oven though. No, it was from all the fire around it. Varna's cackle confirmed her suspicion.

"It would be more satisfying if I could stuff you in there, but this will do," Varna's electronic voice howled. "Maybe my next batch can be blue instead of red. I'll call it, Dead Pureblood Whore! How's that sound?"

Liara didn't respond, she just waited. Eventually, if she kept shooting off this flamethrower, the fuel would run out and she'd make a run for it. Or Wrex would get up and hit her in the back. Panicking right now, even though every muscle in her body said she had to, would get her nowhere.

However, she was surprised the flames suddenly stopped and Varna now sounded even more frustrated. Looking out she saw the entire left arm of the YMIR was frozen over, including the flamethrower. Varna shook the icy appendage, trying to smash out the deep freeze it had been stuck in. Liara looked to find the obvious culprit, Kayap, standing atop a demolished assembly line and aiming his Avalanche at the mech. The unggoy fired again, this time freezing one of the missile pods solid. Liara wasted no time in exploiting this, she fired what was left in her clip at the frozen pod, shattering it under the haze of gunfire.

"Bitch! You know how much that cost?!" Varna screamed.

Varna smashed the ice off her mech's arm and then took aim at Liara. Before she could respond with a singularity, lift or throw attack, an explosion erupted along the right side of the mech. The remaining missile pod burst open, forcing the mech to fall forward as fire surged along its back. Wrex had fired an explosive modified round from his shotgun right into the missile pod, completely destroying it and taking a huge bite out of the YMIR's armor.

"There, now you match again," the krogan huffed.

The mech turned violently, as an enraged Varna screamed over the now heavily distorted voice box. She let every gun rip as Wrex ran across the processing room's floor, the asari behind the YMIR constantly screaming the whole way. Liara couldn't help but imagine Varna was the kind of person who screamed at her vid games wen things didn't go her way.

Kayap had by now joined Liara, standing by her side with his plasma pistol. Even as Varna's shots ripped through her drug supply, Wrex kept her focus squarely on him. Good, that was the key to ending this. She bent down next to Kayap and let him know the plan.

"Overcharge your pistol and fire it into the breach in her armor," she told him. "I need to get close."

"You got it, boss," Kayap confirmed.

Liara rushed off towards the mech, knowing Kayap would do what needed to be done. She remembered how the plasma pistol had an EMP effect when fully discharged on a mechanical target. Well there was now one really big mechanical target facing them down. That left things open to a very easy solution to this problem.

As Kayap fired his shot it hit the YMIR's breached armor perfectly, hitting the machine's circuitry and causing it to shutdown suddenly. Now, Liara suspected, given what had happened with the live wires before, that Varna would try to reboot the system. It would more than likely work, but the seconds the YMIR was offline gave her all the time she would need.

Liara jumped up onto a nearby table and launched herself towards the mech. She grasped the YMIR's back and scrambled up to the top as fast as possible. Even as she reached the summit, the machine began to spring back to life. It turned towards Kayap, forcing Liara to hang on dearly. Varna took direct aim at Kayap, raising her missile cannon to fire on him.

"Don't know what you are, ugly, but fuck it," Varna snarled. "I'm killing some- Wait... where's T'Soni?"

Varna caught on too late, she may not have been a complete idiot, but she was still not fast enough regardless. Liara powered up her biotic fist and smashed it down onto the YMIR's head. The steel crumpled beneath her field of power, the head practically imploding upon impact. As she tore her hand out of the now headless machine, she fired several more rounds into it with her pistol just to be sure. she then leapt off as the war machine toppled over and collapsed to the ground.

They couldn't hear Varna anymore, but Liara imagined she was none too happy about the loss of her little toy. Picking herself up off the ground, she regrouped with Kayap and Wrex, now standing the middle of a ravaged drug processing plant. A hazy smoke of destroyed Minagen X3 wafting in the background.

"Best not breathe that in," Liara warned. "Powers up biotics, but it's hazardous to your health."

"Well we kinda killed two pyjaks with one grenade here," Wrex stated. "I mean, they're not going to be using this place to make more drugs anytime soon and that's one less killer mech around."

"I won't be satisfied until the asari controlling it is no longer a threat either," Liara insisted. "Kayap, you still have some ammo left in the Avalanche?"

"A few more shots, but running close to empty," the unggoy replied.

"Then we best head to the landing pads and cut off their escape," she told the group. "We need to stop as many Eclipse Sister shuttles as possible from escaping. I'll call in the _Lucen_ , see if they can't blockade them from orbit. But we need to be ground side, regardless."

"Then we gotta move to catch'em," Wrex informed her. "Varna will not stick around much longer knowing her proxy is dead."

Liara nodded in agreement and took point once more as they headed for the back exit. They left the tattered remains of the Eclipse Sister's drug prospects behind them. No matter what happened now, one thing was for sure. The Sisters were done. They'd scatter after this. There was nothing Varna could do to stop that now. The mission would not be complete though until Varna herself was captured.

They needed to know everything that bigshot thug had in her mind. While Liara accepted that probably wouldn't be much, given who Varna, she suspected the mercenary would give up something of value if pressed hard enough.

* * *

Nel came out onto the tarmac first, where the shuttles were already well underway. The Eclipse Sisters spotted her pretty quickly, throwing down what supplies they had in their hands and opening fire on the turian. Nel strafed the shuttles as she moved to cover with Vik dropping a sentry to provide additional covering fire. The quarian stuck besides, but Saya looked ready to break into a sprint. Nel obliged him.

"Go!" She shouted. "We'll cover you!"

Saya nodded and took off, sword in hand. One of the sisters fired at him while sending a shockwave at him. He tucked and rolled to the side, popping up on her right. He slashed deep into the asari before firing at the sister nearby with his pistol. He ducked into cover near a supply crate as the remaining sisters opened up on him.

Nel targeted the extra mercs, but it was clear they had no intention of sticking around. They started moving back towards the shuttles, trying to make their escape. As one of the shuttles attempted takeoff, Nel unloaded a furious barrage of bullets into its thrusters. The shuttle rose up a few feet before the engine suddenly exploded and the entire craft slammed back down into the ground.

"Ha! That's right! Fuck you, bitches!" The turian shouted.

A door nearby suddenly opened and Nel turned to take aim at what she thought were more mercs making their escape along their flank. Instead, it was just Liara, Wrex and Kayap. They had found their way here it. Good, now they could finish this mission.

Vik and Nel moved forward now under the base of Liara and Wrex's fire. The two groups converged along the first landing pad. The shotgun of the krogan warlord easily gunning down any Eclipse Sisters who didn't retreat from their shuttle. It wasn't their true target though, that was the shuttle on the furthest pad. Everyone could plainly see Varna among the group of mercs crowding around the shuttle, intent on making a final stand while their shuttle prepared for liftoff.

"Advance and take them down," Liara ordered. "We want Varna alive!"

Nel moved forward first, Saya along her flank backing her up. They didn't get five feet before something appeared from below the edge of the building. Rushing up from below, almost out of nowhere, was a gunship. There was only a little time to react. Nel dove into cover as the craft strafed along her position. Saya cloaked and ran as fast as he could out of the killzone.

Liara could only just grimace, once again Varna was throwing something else in their path to facilitate an escape. For someone who acted like the big bad mercenary boss, she really was just a petty crook trying to make a clean getaway from a sinking ship. if they still wanted Varna, they needed to act fast.

"Vik, take its shields down," she ordered the quarian. "Target it with whatever you have! Wrex, shred the armor with carnage! Kayap, freeze the engines, drop it from the sky!"

All at once her team went to work. Vik reoriented his sentry turret to assault the gunship's shields, while Nel continued to shoot harassing fire as it circled the building. It took the occasional shot, but with so many shuttles still on the ground, along with fellow Sisters, perhaps the merc inside was hesitant.

Whatever the reason, it worked to their advantage. Vik was able to charge up a powerful Overload attack in his omni-tool, overclocking the basic functions. When he let it loose, the craft's shields went completely dead. Wrex used the chance to strike. He let a carnage shot loose to shred the armor and then kept firing his shotgun up at the ship. The flying machine turned and launched a missile his way, but the krogan charged ahead as the projectile slammed into the roof beneath him. He continued blasting at the underbelly of the gunship, forcing its attention to stay on him.

Kayap, however, was the real threat. Largely ignored by the gunship, the unggoy charged up the avalanche for firing and let loose. He targeted the engines, jamming them up with cryogenic ice. The fires in the thrusters died, the systems sputtered and the craft began to spin out of control. The gunship inevitably crashed into another shuttle trying to speed away from the action, exploding in a violent fireworks display. More than likely due to a few volatile explosives aboard the shuttle were the cause.

However, this was not Varna's shuttle. As the gunship went down, Liara saw it start to lift off and away. She fired her pistol at it as it took off into the sky, her frustration boiling over into a snarl. Varna's craft lurched upwards and took off into the sky. The merc was a free bird.

"Damn it!" Liara shouted, throwing her gun down on the ground. "Damn it!"

The rest of the team approached the asari, sharing her annoyance and discouragement.

"We can find her!" Nel insisted. "How far can the bitch run?"

"There's a number of places she could go to within this cluster and by the time we find her there she might be long gone," Liara exclaimed. "We just blew our one shot at..."

It was then Liara noticed Saya holding up his omni-tool to his own eye level, the screen flashing a green signal. He then held up a special gun that he waved around. Liara recognized the make, an STG standard edition FTL tracking beacon gun. Used for emergencies like this, when targets got away.

Liara smiled lightly at that. They had not lost this day after all, not yet.

* * *

Back aboard the _Lucen_ , Liara did her bes to pour over the data Saya's tracker was broadcasting. The signal strength was a wide berth, but it narrowed down a possible location towards a few systems. With more time they could probably zero in, but Liara did not want to wait. She had a mission to see through to the end. Varna would not get a reprieve.

She went over the notes on the target in question, trying to get into her headspace. it wasn't hard. Varna was a thug on the run. Her gang was scattered, her operation devastated. She had nowhere to really go at this point. She doubted her fellow Eclipse mercs in the other branches would be happy to discover she more or less lost her commission. Not to mention, she left her people to more or less die on the ground, fleeing like a coward instead of fighting like an honorable soldier. At least Wasea had stood and fought Shepard.

So where would she flee? Where else, her fellow contacts. The failure to nab her at her HQ was perhaps a blessing in disguise. Now she could potentially track her back to her sellers, the Seppies, Trox, Balak maybe. She couldn't have gone far on the shuttle she was in, they only had so much fuel. So the question was, did this system have some friends of her close by?

That was when she recalled something they had picked up during their infiltration of STG headquarters, two agents discussing codenames they intercepted for smuggling drop points. One of them had heard a bird in the background and enhanced it slightly. They still had the recording.

"Glyph," she ordered. "What was the bird call we identified from the recording we overheard in STG HQ?"

"The Yellow Spotted Crested Narble-Walb, Shadow Broker," the VI replied simply. "A very rare species native only to a few planets."

"Any in this cluster of systems?" Liara asked.

Glyph performed a quick scan of available information and soon came back with a result.

"Only one suitable habitat it could've have thrived in during transport," Glyph claimed. "Pernax 02, in the neighboring Stelnarv System."

Glyph highlighted the planet in question. A known stop over for many smugglers, once a small colony settlement for the rich that failed due to an onset of disease. Many pets escapes captivity, most exotic birds. Liara could've sworn she had seen this planet before though.

She did a quick overview of her information, everything from the investigation so far. That was when she spotted it. It was on the star chart they recovered from the Forerunner ruins. It was a potential landing site for their exodus, marked clearly on their map, but it was in the red, not fully functional yet or presumed lost. She hadn't sent anyone to investigate it because she believed it to be a dead end. They wouldn't find anything interesting there. Perhaps she was wrong. If Balak or Trox or any of their cronies decided to give the place a visit, then maybe they should take a peek themselves.

She contacted the others.

"Get ready to move, team," she told them with renewed vigor in her tone. "We have something."

* * *

AN: This was one of those chapters I had to fight to write through, if only because I struggled with what my intended goal was. More or less, to give a good old fire fight from start to finish with some decent action sequences, leading us into something a bit more interesting before I activate a major plot point I've been building towards with this very story. Think of it as a buffer of sorts, something to properly gauge the time between now and an intended big deal character development chapter later. This right now is about advancing plot, so there were certain functions it had to fill. So, what am I building to exactly? Well you'll have to wait a bit longer. For now, expect some more Forerunner temple shenanigans next time.


	7. A Temple Eclipsed

**Chapter 7: A Temple Eclipsed**

Tracking Varna's shuttle once they were in orbit was not difficult. The IFF signature gave them a pinpoint search area once they locked onto it. The real problem was trying to find a safe landing zone and then trekking all the way through the jungle just to get to the location proper. The forested terrain was fraught with tangled vegetation and trees far too close together. It was a veritable maze of green. One that did not sit at all well with Vik as he kept swatting his hand about at every discernable buzz.

"Not a fan of bugs, Bucket?" Nel asked him.

"Not a fan of disease," he corrected. "Quarian, remember?"

"You're in a suit, remember?" Nel chided back.

"At the current level of gene manipulation and ecological upheaval, I would not be surprised if some kind of suit rupturing super bug has not evolved in some way," he argued. "Probably with a bite strong enough to tear through all kinds of fabric. No doubt developed in a lab and set loose by some bio-weapons corp intent on delivering chemical and toxic agents that even the strongest of hazard suits couldn't keep out."

"Alright, you're not a tropics person," Nel sighed. "Did we really need another paranoid theory?"

"Given what we've learned about the bio-agents the Salarian Union developed, I wouldn't call it that paranoid," Vik countered. "I'd call it at least semi-reasonably probable."

Liara shushed at them both as she pushed on through the trees.

"Quiet," she ordered them. "We're getting close to where the shuttle came down. Just at the crest of this hill, we should be able to see what we're up against."

Liara's assumption was proven accurate once they reached the hilltop. They could see the shuttle clearly, as well as a structure, overgrown with vegetation. It didn't look like something the Forerunner had built, mainly because it looked to be made of stone. However, certain elements of the design, the sculpting of the spires, the archway's configuration, even the markings along the stone matched Forerunner script. Perhaps this was a front, something that made it only look like it was from a less advanced civilization. They'd need to get inside to discover the truth.

That would be complicated though by the small encampment just outside the entrance. There were a series of small buildings surrounded by some guard towers up front and back. Hegemony soldiers patrolled the grounds as civilian archaeologists worked hunched over tables examining artifacts. The batarians had control over the camp, clearly, but Liara knew from experience at this point not to expect they were the only people here. The Covenant were invested in this project, Vorsa, their leader, had made that clear at the summit on Khar'Shan. Chances were they were on site somewhere. They needed to keep that in mind.

"Well they've set themselves up nicely," Nel observed, crouching beside Liara in the brush. "Guards on the towers are the biggest problem. They need to go if we're going to get inside at all."

"Saya will handle that," Liara assured her. "We just have to push to the entrance."

She scanned the area once more, from Varna's shuttle to the temple entrance. She didn't see any other Eclipse Sisters at first. Perhaps they had gone inside already, if there were any left. A few feet close to the entrance she spotted Varna, talking with a Batarian. From the look of his armor and insignia he was a commander, probably the lead officer in charge of this camp. From what she could make out, Varna was arguing with him and he had no patience for her. The mercenary eventually grew fed up and rushed back inside, stomping all the way.

"She's feeling the heat," Wrex said, no doubt spotting the scene himself. "Probably trying to negotiate a way out of the system."

"We need to consider there might be other ways in and out of there," Liara cautioned. "We can't assume she's trapped. So when we move, we move quick enough that she can't get to her exit."

Saya set up his sniper position along the crest, aiming at the nearest tower. He looked to Liara, who only nodded.

"Get to the entrance, don't waste time," she told the others. "When we're in, find Varna. We need her alive, so if you have to, only shoot to disable."

The team moved all at once, rushing down the edge of the hill at a fevered pace. Once they hit the perimeter, Saya fired a single shot. The first guard in the tower went down, falling over the railing and hitting the ground hard. From there, the chaos started. Archaeologists fled their work stations as soldiers moved to intercept Liara's team. As they opened fire, Wrex and Liara joined together at the front of the attack.

"Shockwave on my go," she told him as she ran. "Go!"

Liara let loose a singularity in the middle of Batarians, lifting two up off the ground. Wrex's shockwave came next, rippling across the ground and knocking two more batarians away before hitting the singularity. The resulting biotic detonation sent every nearby hostile flying into the outer walls of nearby buildings or into tables, covered with artifacts. As Forerunner relics went flying, Liara pressed their advantage, firing at the Batarians, forcing them into cover or retreat.

Nel let loose with her assault rifle, engaging the enemy with a blazing stream of incendiary rounds. With her armor's fortfication function activated she was protected from most enemy fire. She still didn't want to get shot at though. To avoid incoming fire from one of the towers, she moved through one of the buildings, racing against his machine gun rounds. When they suddenly stopped, she presumed Saya had taken care of him. She burst out of the building through a window, rolling back into kneeling position as she did.

A pair of batarians were close by, firing on her as she moved. She returned fire in kind, killing one and send the other into cover. As she got up to move, another pair of Batarians came in from her direct flank, trying to navigate the various tables and the artifacts strewn around them. Nel quickly tossed one of her cluster grenades towards them. The resulting series of explosions tore through the tables, creating of plume of dust and fire. With that pair dealt with, Nel turned back to the Batarian still in her path. He was hiding behind a corner of small structure up ahead. She fired at the position, keeping him suppressed. When she turned, she delivered a powerful punch right to his face, forcing him to the floor before he could react.

At the same time, Vik advanced close to Liara and Wrex, keeping them covered with combat and turret drones. The turret laid down covering fire as they moved forward, the combat drone managed the flanks. Vik moved along the outside of the advance, keeping watch on his combat drone's parallel progress. As he moved, a batarian came into view atop a one of the buildings. He fired down at the quarian, forcing him to duck behind an overturned table. With little time to think, as Liara and Wrex were getting away from him, he took one of the table legs in hand. He advanced with it as a shield, protecting himself from further fire. When he the batarian had to switch out his thermal clips, Vik made his move. He moved his shotgun around the table and fired a single blast. The batarian was thrown back by the shot, collapsing onto the roof.

Vik caught up with Liara and Wrex just as a new problem rolled into view. An armored vehicle, six wheels with a machine gun on top, rolled into view. Liara pushed Wrex out of the weapon's sights along with herself, just barely avoiding the incoming fire. Vik ducked into cover as the gun turned on him, racing behind boulder before the shots reached him. They were close to the entrance now, just feet away. An explosion went off next to the vehicle, one of Nel's cluster grenades. It wasn't enough to break through the armor, but it did distract the gunner for a bit.

Nel rushed up to Vik's position to provide further support, splitting the gunner's targets into two distinct zones. Maybe one of them could make an attack run on enemy position, while the other kept them distracted. They wouldn't have to though, if their other team mate just hurried up and made his move already.

"Where's Kay?" Nel asked over the gunfire.

Vik pointed upwards to a building across the way. Kayap was on top of it, Fuel Rod Cannon on his shoulder, moving into firing position. When he got to the ledge of the structure, he took aim at the armored vehicle and fired a single shot. The blast impacted against the side, burning clean through the armor. The gunner was still alive though and he turned his sights onto the unggoy. Now exposed, Kayap darted off the roof of the building, as bullets nearly cut him down. Landing in the dirt with a thud, the unggoy forced himself back up and fired another shot. This time, he hit the gun directly. The Fuel Rod blast tore the gun clean off the vehicle and seconds later a burst of flame erupted from the vehicle's engine.

With the only obstacle to forward progress seemingly gone, they moved forward to the temple entrance together. They kept their weapons trained on the archway as they approached. Sure enough, a pair of batarians moved to confront them. Only for a blade to appear through the sternum of one and then cut through the neck of the other.

Saya stood over the bodies of the two batarians now, seemingly satisfied with his quick work. All four tower guards were dead and he had somehow managed to get here before anyone else. Impressive, but not everyone appreciated how smug he looked about it.

"For a mute frog you do like to gloat," Nel told him. "So you beat us here. You want a fucking medal? We had a few complications... obviously."

She pointed at the wreck of the armored vehicle behind them.

"It doesn't matter," Liara told her. "We need to get inside, Varna is probably already looking for cover somewhere in there. We need to track her down quickly. Saya, keep in stealth, scout ahead. Report back what you find, we'll be right behind you."

The salarian just nodded, activated his cloak and headed inside. Before Liara followed, she turned to the team proper.

"Alright, be ready for anything," she warned. "There's probably more batarians seeking cover in there and who knows what else. Keep your eyes open and remember, we need Varna alive."

* * *

As they entered the temple, the darkness became enveloping. Only the lights on their weapons allowed them to find their way in the black. Liara kept watch for hostiles, but her mind was forced back into considering their surroundings all the same. Her interest in archaeology needed to be sated and questions about the temple remained. The walls were still covered with more Forerunner symbols, carved into the stone. Liara still couldn't figure out though, why was the temple stone? Why did it look Forerunner in structure but not material?

Her mind could only come to one solution, something was being hidden here. That the Forerunner did not want this place to stand out. That they wanted to look normal. As normal as a ruined temple could be. The intel had suggested this place hadn't been finished, that it wasn't ready to receive any escaping Forerunners leaving their universe. What if it was something else? Clearly the batarians thought there was more to this place if they were still here.

Varna remained a priority, but figuring out what this temple was had become a secondary objective in her mind. If this place held any clues as to what the Covenant were after, she needed to find them. The long game was stopping their galactic invasion plans. For whatever reason, the Forerunner artifacts they were looking for were crucial to those efforts.

Scanning the walls with their lights, the team soon came across carvings along the walls. They were intricate, detailed, different from the writing and letters. These looked like they depicted symbols or decretive concepts. Liara had encountered a number of them in her own excavations.

"How old do you think this place is?" Wrex asked her.

"I can't give a definitive," she admitted. "Given the growth of the jungle and the level of erosion on the stone though, I'd imagine fairly old. Perhaps even built prior to the Prothean's own civilization. Amazing it's stood around so long in such conditions the way it has. It's in surprisingly decent shape for its age."

Which was probably owed to the Forerunners' success as builders, but it did raise further suspicions from Liara. What did they use to make this place? What was its purpose? And, as she always came back to, why was it stone?

Those questions were shaken from her mind though when a new mystery presented itself. At the back of the hallway, Kayap's flashlight had stumbled onto a far more detailed carving. What looked to be a stone head embedded in the wall. It made him jump somewhat, but he soon regained composure once he realized it was not alive. The others focused their own lights on the carving and soon revealed it to be a larger mural chiseled out of the stone.

"Whoa," Nel said as she took it all in. "What the heck is this about?"

The carving depicted tall figures, cloaked in strange armor and grasping what appeared to be weapons. Behind them was what looked to be a circular flashing light resonating in the sky. Objects were flying out from it, descending upon the land around them. Their appeared to be other beings as well, surrounding the taller figures and looking up to them in reverence. Structures towered across the background, jutting upwards from the earth, towering over others below. Strange creatures occupied the skies as well, descending upon the land as others seemed to look up in amazement at their grandeur. A central figure, similar to the other tall creatures, stood at the forefront, holding what looked to be a swirling mass of stars, cradling it like a mother would a child.

"You're the archaeologist," Wrex reminded Liara. "Any idea what this is all about?"

Liara had some idea. Digging up ancient sites for over a century had honed her relatively unique understanding of their culture and its depictions within art. She had found very little that gave the full scope of the Protheans, but her other fields of study had given her much insight into the subject mural carving was very similar to a lot of those. It was conveying a story, or perhaps more accurately... a plan. Unlike the various writings and symbols along the walls of the temple, this had a clearer purpose and intent. For once the Forerunners were not being very cryptic. A lot of what it meant was probably up for interpretation, but she could gleam the purpose behind the art easily.

"I believe the light in the sky at the top is clearly the Wormhole," she informed her team. "This a detailed account of their travels into this universe from their own. Setting up colonies, encountering locals, securing their borders with those giant flying creatures or... perhaps machines."

She pointed her light to the central figure.

"This one is an apt representation of their ideal, their intention to hold this galaxy in their influence," Liara stated firmly. "The swirling stars are clearly he Milky Way. The gesture of the arms suggests a somewhat nurturing and caring aspect towards it. The idea of holding the galaxy like a child, protecting it, along with everything within it."

"So basically colonization," Vik asked flatly.

"It seems that was the likely goal," Liara admitted. "Curious though. This doesn't seem to depict their reason for leaving and it doesn't seem to suggest they had any fear or doubt. It's not show them fleeing, but coming of their own will, their choice. I'd expect us to see something about their fall, but this isn't really something concerning their past at all. Only their future, their hope."

"So they were trying to expand even before things went to hell back home," Vik observed, sounding rather surly in his analysis. "I guess their universe isn't too different from ours then. They have the same crop of Imperialists over there."

"Had," Nel reminded him. "They're all dead, remember? Their little plan didn't work out how they hoped."

Liara knew, however, that Vik's take was still more or less accurate. Even if the Forerunners didn't see themselves as conquerors, it was hard to deny what the intent of their coming was at first. However, Nel was right, although probably not because the natives fought them off or anything. Liara imagined it was far more likely that they had arrived in force after the destruction of their civilization. As refugees, they were probably still trying to establish themselves when the Reapers came. She doubted they survived that cycle's harvest. Assuming they even got that far. It was equally as possible that they were unable to effectively subjugate the populace, as an equally advanced civilization still in relatively decent shape could've held them in check. Perhaps the Protheans, if the Forerunners arrived during their cycle specifically.

In either case, whatever plans the Forerunners originally had were soon heavily altered. Suggesting this place, this carving, were all older than originally expected. They were at least created prior to the fall of the Forerunner's civilization. Which meant they were here, studying their universe, for far longer than expected previously.

Kayap had wandered up to the mural, shining his light down on the bottom rung of the carving.

"Look, writing," he said, revealing more of Forerunner language, chiseled into the rock below he mural.

Liara crouched down herself to get a better look. Perhaps a title for the piece itself? She could only guess.

"Do you know what this says?" She asked Kayap.

"Coda would," Kay assured her. "Huragok know this stuff backwards and forwards. I can read a bit though. Something about, uh, retaining something. That's all I can get."

It was pretty old script and slightly degraded at that. She didn't blame Kayap for being unable to translate fully. Liara decided to just take a still image of the whole thing with her omni-tool. With any luck, Coda would be able to give her a better understanding of what this was.

As she was crouching she noticed something about the galaxy within the central figure's hands. The center appeared to be raised slightly, as did four smaller stars. She suspected there was some significance, but could not seem to discern as to what it was. She reached to touch the center of the Milky Way, only to find the stone give slightly at her touch.

No, it couldn't be.

Sprawling out her fingers, she touched each of the four stars raised up on the carving. When they all touched, she felt them give slightly. From there, pushing on them was almost automatic. There was a strange grinding noise as light started emanating from the carving itself, igniting the Wormhole and the Galaxy together in a luminescent glow. It was then the central figure lowered itself into the ground, revealing a passage way behind it, a long corridor leading deeper inside.

"Ha, knew we'd find one of these eventually," Nel chuckled.

Nel's enthusiasm for an action film trope made real was not entirely shared by Liara, but nevertheless they had their way forward. Taking point, the asari led her team down the corridor, lit only by blue luminescent lanterns on either side. They did not look at all natural in any form. They were some kind of technology. When they got to the other side of the tunnel, Liara's suspicions were proven correct.

Behind the stone facade, was in fact what Liara had originally expected to find. Advanced material, on par with that of what they had found at the previous dig site. High steel walls, metal flooring, floating machinery and structures. Everything bathed in a blue luminescent glow. The room itself was huge, expansive, reaching high over their heads and deeper into the earth.

"Well this is... kinda crazy," Nel admitted, clearly at a loss for words.

"The Forerunners must not have wanted their true nature discovered," Liara reasoned. "They hid behind a more primitive front in order to mask themselves. Allowing them to conduct their observation of our universe without fear of standing out. The older looking buildings were probably constructed first and the facility within built inside the hollowed out earth."

"Which means this mission might just have gotten harder," Wrex warned. "Bad guys could be anywhere by now. They probably retreated in here for safety."

"Which means Varna is in here too somewhere," Liara stated. "We need to track her down, quickly. I doubt that mural entrance was the only way in or out of this inner sanctum."

They headed down the steps into the open atrium proper. As they moved cautiously, Wrex pointed towards a corridor off to their side. They could hear voices coming from it, very distinct sangheili sounding voices. Liara motioned the others to remain quiet as they closed in on their quarry. As they got closer, they believed they could hear someone else, a more feminine sounding tone.

As they rounded a nearby corner, they saw a wide open hallway, cascaded in blue light with various bits of advanced machinery strewn about. One could only guess at their purpose, but it wasn't the thing that drew their attention. It was the group of Covenant, all of them sangheili, and a small group of asari in Eclipse Merc gear. Varna was at the head of the group, trying to "negotiate" it seemed with the lead sangheili.

"This is not my fault," she claimed. "You're the ones who let the garrison fall to pieces! You fuck up here, how does that look to your Fleetmaster?"

"I will not be lectured by a failure," the sangheili screeched back. "If you truly wish to redeem yourself you will stand and defend this holy site. Not skitter away like a coward."

"You want that data, I can smuggle it out," Varna tried to assure. "Just let me take it to your Fleet. It's my one chance here!"

"Your life is insignificant next to my station," the sangheili claimed. "You will assist us, but glory will not be yours alone."

Liara remained silent, but her interest was now piqued completely. There was data here, important data no doubt referring to the Covenant's long term goals. If they could just get to it first, they finally be a step ahead of them. They'd have to get to Varna though, no easy task when she was currently surrounded by so many sangheili.

"Careful," Kayap warned. "Those are Spec Ops. Tough as they come. If they're here, then this place has something seriously valuable."

"Then we should take it from them, for safe keeping," Nel quipped.

Liara agreed with the sentiment, but needed to be cautious all the same. Chances are there were more of these Spec Ops nearby. She had the team fan out as the argument continued, allowing them to get in position behind a few pillars and machinery in the hall.

"Remember, keep Varna alive," Liara ordered. "We need her if we're going to crack what the Separatists are planning."

They all began to line up their shots, even as Varna tried to pressure the situation further.

"Don't you get it? If we can use what we found in here and sneak it to the damn Seppies, we can both come out of this on top," she tried to state. "It will get us back in the good graces of everyone in our little pact."

"There is no we," the sangheili claimed. "You came here, unannounced and led our enemies to this place. You are the one who is at fault for this disaster, not us. And we will explain that to the Fleetmaster and Balak directly."

"And then I'll explain how you held yourselves back and let the batarians get slaughtered," Varna argued. "How's Balak going to feel about that? What's Vorsa going to do to keep him from going off the deep end over your decision to let the people helping you dig out this place die?"

Sangheili looked like he was thinking for a moment, but then he started peering towards one of the pillars. It was now or never, they were going to get spotted otherwise. Liara looked over to Wrex, who nodded and then tossed out a fragmentation grenade over his cover. The bomb exploded near the Sangheili, causing them to scatter.

"Intruders inside! Kill them all!" The Sangheili ordered.

The Spec Ops and Varna's pair of mercs opened fire. Varna herself ducked into cover as lead and plasma were exchanged between both parties. Varna's mercs raked fire across Liara and Kayap's position behind a pillar to the right. Their fire eventually tracked towards Vik and Nel, taking cover behind some machinery to the far left of Liara's position. They began trying to move towards the back of the room, possibly to escape with Varna. That attempt was cut short, when one of the mercs dropped to the ground dead. The other merc tried to look for the shooter, only for them to get shot as well and plop onto her back.

Liara looked further back behind her position to see Saya covering the team, his sniper rifle out and at the ready. He continued firing on Varna's position, trying to keep her pinned. That would hopefully for her to stay down long enough to allow them to kill the rest of the sangheili. For her part, the merc leader didn't just lay down and take it. She fired back at where she thought the sniper was, both with her pistol and stray biotic barrages. They did little good, Saya knew well enough to not expose himself. He was already relocating before Varna could really get a decent bead on him.

The sangheili were the real danger after all, they were actually trained. They moved up through the machinery strewn throughout the hallway. Their plasma fire filled the air with burning bolts, making it near impossible to really suppress them at the moment. Their shields were also tougher, Wrex's shotgun blast hit one square on, but did little to penetrate it. The Covenant officer soon retreated to cover while a friend took over his position and kept up the base of fire.

They needed to break their defenses or they'd never punch through them all. Liara had an idea, but she'd need Vik's help to get it started. She contacted him over the radio.

"Vik, can your drone get around their flank?" She asked him.

"It can, just keep them off it," he responded. "I'll see if I can set him up to do a number on those shields. Just give me a second with the settings."

"I'll get you a full minute," Nel assured the quarian, switching on her disruptor rounds for her assault rifle. She then stood up form cover and began firing like mad.

Nel's aggressive fire shifted the efforts of the sangheili slightly, returning plasma bolts on her position as her disruptor rounds raked their position. Nel had activated her fortification gear, which was able to deflect some of the plasma bolts for a time, but not forever.

Working feverishly, Vik soon sent the drone off once everything was set, speeding it towards the enemy flank. The drone weaved in and out of the machinery, soon approaching to the direct right of the Spec Ops lines. It fired a few casual shots, just to get their attention off Nel for a hot second. Vik then detonated the drone manually. The explosion sent one sangheili flying back into a metal wall nearby, the others tumbled over each other as the blast enveloped their position.

It would be easy to assume the Covenant soldiers were down for the count, but not so. They all quickly stood up and began opening fire a new. Even the one thrown by the blast was only injured, not dead. However, they were now more scattered about the room, not nearly as cohesive a front as before. Their shields did not fare well against the energy burst Vik had sent their way either. At least a few of their number had lost theirs. This was the opportunity the team needed.

"Wrex," Liara shouted over the fire. "I'm going to pull some out! Get ready!"

"Heh, heh, do it!" The big krogan laughed uproariously, his approval of the plan self-evident,

Liara smiled and began her assault. She spotted one of the sangheili moving to flank and reached out with her biotics. The Covie was lifted from the ground, pulled over one of the Forerunner machines in the hall and out into the open air where he floated. Wrex fired his shotgun twice for goon measure, killing the sangheili with ease. A second vaulted over his own cover to charge the krogan, only for Liara to trip the Covenant warrior up with another Pull attack. The sangheili was soon flipped upside down and the Wrex looked over the edge of his cover to fire a carnage blast that ripped into the hostile alien with ease.

As chunks rained down on the field, however, the sangheili renewed their assault in earnest. They targeted the entire group individually, trying to force them into suppression. Their shields were no doubt recovering, they had to resolve that. Liara was about to ask Vik for another drone strike, but the quarian was already on it.

"Hopefully this chains to enough of them," he shouted over the fire. "Get ready to start shooting!"

Vik activated his omni-tool and activated an overload attack on one of the sangheili's shields. The burst of energy completely wrecked the alien's defenses and did the same to his colleagues who were nearby. Nel didn't give them a chance to recover, she threw one of her cluster grenades among them, forcing the aliens to scatter even more. She picked off one as he attempted to slide to safety. The kill earned her the ire of his friends, however, and soon every sangheili was targeting her once more.

With the assault not letting up, Kayap moved into the line of fire to assist in his own way.

"Shoot who I shoot!" He shouted over the fire.

He overcharged his plasma pistol and fired it at the sangheili. The blast completely annihilated the Covenant's soldier's shields, what little remained of them at least. Nel instantly picked up on the strategy, firing several shots at the sangheili before he could recover from the shock of the overcharge. The Covie was hit in the head and fell to the ground hard. Kayap was able to do this one more time before he was forced back into cover by sangheili's fire. luckily, Saya's sniper skills were able to quickly pick out Kayap's weakened target and finish him off.

Even so, it was clear the sangheili were only damaged, not broken by the attacks so far. They needed to hit them harder. Liara had just the thing. She once again turned to Wrex.

"Singularity and Throw, on my mark!" She shouted over to the krogan.

Wrex merely nodded and allowed the Asari to make her move. She sent a singularity into the lines of the Covenant, right in the middle of them all. A pair of sangheili were swept up by it, but Liara was looking for something bigger than that.

"Now Wrex!"

The krogan flung a throw attack right into the swirling vortex of biotic energy. The subsequent detonation sent both sangheili flying, along with several of their nearby peers. The sangheili lines were now completely shattered and it looked like the battle was nearly over.

However, the tide soon shifted back in the enemy's favor again. As soon as the biotic blast had died down, more Covenant charged forth from behind the enemy position. Their reinforcements had inevitably arrived it seemed. Not all of them were Spec Ops, but it didn't matter, they were just as vicious even if their shields were not as powerful. They moved in with concussion rifles, firing red blasts at Liara's team. They needed another strike.

"Double shockwave!" Liara screamed over to Wrex. "On three!"

"Three!"

Wrex had jumped the gun on the count, but Liara was already moving herself. Together they sent a rippling wave across the floor. The shockwaves struck deep into the lines of reinforcing Covenant, when they connected, the area went up like a blue fireball. Covies went flying everywhere, smashing into walls and machines all about the hallway. Wrex seemed pleased, and began to move towards the center. Vik and Nel followed, Liara taking up the right side of their formation with Kayap.

This was it, they could close in on Varna while the sangheili were disoriented. They'd grab her and then move to fallback positions, maybe lose the Covies in this gigantic facility. That was the plan at least. Until Wrex took a stray hit to his leg from a plasma bolt.

The mighty krogan leader, despite his healing factor, was still vulnerable. Even with a krogan's ability to regenerate from damage, plasma still hurt like hell. Burns were always difficult to recover from. Wrex had managed to fall behind cover and, as always when things went this way, fired back on his opponents blindly. It didn't matter though, not to Liara.

All she could see was Wrex in danger now, her vision focused squarely on how many Covenant were now targeting him. Before she even knew what she was doing, a rage took over. Screaming bloody murder, she rushed ahead into the fray, biotics blazing across her body. She let loose a powerful biotic wave in front of her, knocking several Covenant over in its wake. She activated a powerful singularity next, pulling even more of them in. She fired a succession of shots at the Covenant, floating helpless in the vortex, for a time. Then, she finally sent a shockwave rippling over towards them, causing another biotic detonation that tore through their ranks.

She then rushed over to Wrex's position as the rest of her team crowded around him. She already had her omni-tool out with an application of medi-gel.

"Ugh, come on, it's just a scratch," Wrex said, trying to play things off. "Really, I'm okay."

"You're burnt, that's what you are," Liara told him bluntly. "Nel, base of fire on us. Keep them back. Does anyone have eyes on Varna? Is she running?"

"Uh, no," Kayap informed them. "I think we have other problems though."

Liara hadn't been paying much attention, but she suddenly heard a new sound amongst the encroaching firefight. It was not a Covenant weapon. It sounded more like a very familiar, very hated gun she had come to know over two years prior... a Geth Pulse Rifle.

Looking over her cover, she saw several sangheili gunned down by some unknown assailant in the shadows. It was not Saya, it was too quick for even his sniper rifle. They didn't have to wait long to discover who it was.

Jumping down from the rafters above, was a robotic bipedal being. Its body was a pure platinum sheen, towering and powerful. Clearly a Geth Prime platform, but different, more heavily armored. Stranger yet was the head though, it was more ornate than usual. It was triangular in shape and its singular eyes was replaced with three at each corner, all glowing a vicious shade of red.

"Greetings meatbags, I hope I'm not interrupting anything."

There was no mistaking that voice. It was the Singular, it was back and clearly upgraded. No longer a pile of junk Geth bits, it had uploaded itself into a new body. One that better served its purpose. It activated a barrier in front of it as more Covenant tried to shoot at him.

"Please do not go anywhere, Doctor T'Soni," it requested. "I may still want to kill you all later, once I've dealt with my former captors sufficiently."

The Singular pressed forward on the Covenant, its shields seemingly resisting their various plasma weapon shots. He grabbed one of the sangheili by the neck and lifted him up off the ground with one hand. The alien tried to retaliate, igniting his plasma sword. The Singular merely grabbed his arm and pulled. The ear splitting scream was silenced when the Singular smashed the alien's head into a wall nearby. He then pried the sword from the fingers of the Covie, letting the rest of the limb drop to the floor.

"How nice of him to share," it stated as it ignited the weapon for himself, before looking to the Covenant. "You do have such fascinating toys, I'll give you all that much."

"Synthetic abomination!" One of the sangheili cried out in a rage. "Kill it! Kill it now!"

The Singular charged forward, slashing through the Covenant with ease. Liara did her best pry her eyes away. The Singular was a threat, but he was not their main goal. For the moment he was keeping the Covenant busy, that would not evidently last forever it seemed. She reoriented herself back to her true target, finding Varna slinking away from the fight. As Liara had suspected she would sooner or later.

"I'm going after Varna," she told the others. "We need to get her before she finds a way to escape."

"What about the freakin' killbot?!" Nel asked frantically.

"Don't engage him if you can help it," She ordered. "Fall back if you can and get Wrex to safety until he can heal."

"But Liara-"

"That's an order, Vik," she told the quarian. "We can't afford to let that thing distract us and we have no idea what else he's got in that new platform of his. We can't risk it right now. Slow him down if you can, disable him, but if things look bad, get yourselves out of here fast. We need to stay on mission, do not come after me! No matter what!"

She bolted from the group after Varna. As she did, she saw The Singular grab a Sangheili's head and then electrocute his face off. For some reason, even over the sizzling crack of the electricity and the screaming cries of the Covenant warrior, Liara could've sworn she could hear an electronic chuckling from the Geth Heretic.

* * *

Varna wasn't exactly too difficult to track down, even within the winding halls of the inner sanctum. There weren't many doors and Liara imagined she knew where she was going. She wanted the data, it was her only way to make up for everything that had gone wrong. So Liara just needed to find some place that looked like it would hold valuable information.

When she stumbled upon a room that looked filled to the brim with what appeared to be access terminals and large floating ball of light at the back near a very large console of sorts, Liara figured she had found the right place. Varna didn't appear to be in sight, Liara suspected she was nearby though. The console itself looked like it had recently been activated. The blue ball of light was shifting, revealing things on a holographic screen of sorts. The images were going too fast to make anything out though.

She soon realized why upon approaching it. Lodged inside what looked to be a data port was an OSD, no doubt trying to download everything inside this room onto itself. Liara suspected, given all the information speeding by on the screen, that Varna would need a lot more OSDs to get everything. Not that it would matter, she would be taking it for herself when this was over.

First she would have to deal with the head Eclipse Sister though, luckily she didn't make herself too difficult to find once Liara had gotten close to her prize. Hearing a sound from behind her, Liara turned and pointed her pistol back at Varna, who already had her weapon out. The two asari stared each other down, circling each other as they did.

"You really think you've won?" Varna asked. "You think you can mess up my operation and take me down?"

"That was the plan," Liara informed her. "You seemed to be the weak link in Balak's chain of conspirators. You've more than proven my hypothesis right over the past twenty-four hours."

"Shows what you know," Varna laughed. "Once I get my data and get it to the Seppies, I'll be forgiven. Even Balak will let this whole fuck up slide. I'll have proven I'm still valuable."

"You've cost the Separatists a valuable resource when you couldn't defend the biotic enhancing drugs they wanted and led us to this temple," Liara reminded her coldly. "Handing them over some data that they would've gotten anyway had you not complicated things isn't much of a saving grace."

"It is when they still need my smuggling routes for their plans," Varna stated confidently. "It's why I'm still alive to begin with. This is just to prove I can clean up my own mess. And once I kill you, the thorn in everyone's asses, they'll be more than willing to forgive and forget."

"You couldn't even beat me when a mech was doing most of your work," Liara chastised her. "You really think you can take me one on one?"

"You may have run with Commander Shepard, T'Soni, but the streets are the greatest teacher out there," Varna claimed. "It's survive or die out there. And me? I'm a survivor."

Varna went to pull the trigger, but Liara was already two steps ahead. She threw out a biotic attack that bowled Varna over, causing her gun to clatter to the floor. Liara advanced on Varna, but the merc retaliated. She suddenly flew right at Liara, smashing into with a biotic charge. The mercenary then batted Liara's weapon away, leaving both asari with only their fists and their biotics.

"Let's see what a pureblooded slut like you can do against the baddest bitch in Eclipse!"

Varna liked that word, probably thought it got under her skin. But Liara had been called pureblood enough in her life at this point that the word no longer phased her. It just steeled her resolve to beat them down harder, one way or another. She lit up her biotics, just as Varna moved in for another charge. This time, she ran into Liara's barrier, which when dropped a second later exploded and sent Varna flying backwards into a terminal.

Varna leapt up quickly and unleashed a biotic lash from her hand. She swung it at Liara, who only just missed it by inches. She sent a shockwave in response, but Varna leap up and out of the way. As she came back down she aimed a biotic fist at Liara, intending to slam down onto her. Liara side-stepped the direct punch, but the shockwave resulting from the punch hitting the floor caused her to slam into a nearby terminal herself.

Varna charged in once again, aiming a punch at Liara's head. Dodging it by inches, Liara forced the merc away from her with a cascading wave of energy. Varna stumbled backwards, only for Liara to charge into her with her shoulder. Following it up with a solid knee to Varna's stomach, she then flipped the merc over her back and sent her tumbling across the pavement.

Varna punched the floor in anger, forcing herself to stand once more.

"I'm not getting beat by some fucking bookworm!" She declared. "I am THE Eclipse Sister! I have fought harder than any asari out there to get here!"

"Maybe if you spent time reading you would've been able to fight smarter instead," Liara responded, smirking slightly as she did.

Enraged, Varna activated a pair of biotic lashes with both her arms. She flung them at Liara, who took the hit using her barriers to dull the blow. She was thrown back significantly, but Varna kept charging in with her lashes. Liara saw her chance, she rolled forward, ducking under the assaulting lashes and delivered a powerful biotic throw at point blank range that sent Varna flying into the ceiling.

Varna came crashing back down, her fist ignited with biotic power, only for Liara to meet her with the same force. The opposing fists detonated each other. Liara went to ground, but Varna flew off and landed in a heap. It was a hard hit for both of them, Liara had to force herself to crawl to her feet. Varna managed to do the same.

"I'm gonna... break every bone in... your body," the merc growled, near panting.

Liara just took up a fighting stand once more.

"I can go all day, Varna," she claimed.

Varna roared as she activated her charge attack once more, heading at full throttle towards Liara. The problem was she had overextended herself. Liara took a step left the second she saw Varna powering up, allowing her to avoid the attack entirely and deliver a clothesline biotic knuckle duster right into Varna's face.

The Merc was thrown back, but didn't stay thrown back for long. Liara reeled her in with a charged up Pull attack and then punched her again, square in the nose. As Varna fell back, she quickly flung a stasis attack that froze the merc in mid fall. Liara then rushed to grab her pistol, swiping it off the ground.

Just as the stasis wore off, Liara kicked Varna in the stomach and brought her down to the floor. As she lay there clutching at her lower abdomen, Liara pointed her weapon down at the merc.

"Baddest bitch in Eclipse, huh?" She asked. "You may want to rethink that title."

Then, just as expected, the merc held her hands up in a fright.

"Okay, okay, I give," she declared. "Let's... let's make a deal. Can we make a deal?"

Liara had intended to capture Varna alive, she still did, but the prospect of seeing her plea for a bargain was too good to pass up. It meant she could squeeze more out of her than she had originally expected to. Best to milk this for whatever it was worth.

"What exactly can you even offer me?" Liara asked, feigning a lack of interest. "Your organization is more or less in tatters so you can't offer me any resources, your friends in Balak's conspiracy are probably going to be out for your head now so you can't be my spy and, to be honest, I think you're way too low on the totem pole for your information to be of any use."

"I am valuable," Varna claimed. "More than you probably expect actually."

"Why?" Liara asked. "Because of a few smuggling routes?"

"A very intricate crop of smuggling routes, inherited them from my predecessor," Varna said grinning. "When Trox first approached me for a partnership in this conspiracy, that was the whole fucking reason. I had the means to move all kinds of product deep into enemy territory. Specifically, Turian territory."

For the Separatists, so they could get guns and the drugs and anything else they needed. Obvious enough, but not good enough in terms of intel. At least, that's what Liara wanted her to think. No need to play her hand just yet.

"How good can these smuggling lanes be if you're using them?" She asked Varna skeptically. "Why would they need you at all?"

"It's not just to get them their shit, it's to get them around when it's already inside Hierarchy controlled space," Varna stated insistently. "They want to launch a major attack somewhere, something big, biological based if the equipment I kept shuttling them was any indication, but they can't get their people there without a back way in. They needed the shit I know."

"Well now you're not going to be able to show them, so really it seems the easiest way to put an end to that plan..."

Liara's threatening suggestion was enough to unnerve Varna. She frantically tried to re-explain herself.

"I already gave them the internal routes I set up so they could move the shit around more easily, okay," Varna fearfully informed her. "Can't have a war without logistics and shit. Killing me might slow them down, but you'll need my help to pick out what their intended target is."

"They never told you?" Liara asked curiously.

"Need to know, Trox said," Varna clarified. "He said he'd explain if our deal went through."

Deal? What deal? Liara needed to remain cool, not tip off that she needed to know what that was. It couldn't be the smuggling and drugs and weapons, that was already on the books from the sound of it. This was something else.

"Trox has a side deal with you?" Liara mocked. "Please, as if the Blood Pack needs your help with anything. Whatever Trox promised for you was likely a lie. They don't need Eclipse's help, let alone yours."

"Ah, but that's the thing," Varna chuckled. "Blood Pack ain't doing so good these days. Your buddy Shepard saw to that. They're hurting bad, like no one really knows how bad. Trox said he needed my help to strengthen the Pack. Get the other chapters to throw in with him, expand some of the membership a little with some major biotic muscle, like himself. He was gonna help me get the Sisters up the ladder in return. Eclipse and the Pack, together as one big happy merc family."

"Yeah, look how that turned out," Liara snorted.

"He's still going to make a go of it," Varna claimed. "Trox thinks it's the only way to keep the Pack from falling out of step or something."

"Why?" Liara asked. "What's wrong with the Pack?"

"Not enough Krogan," Varna stated plainly. "Too many attack dogs."

"Vorcha?" Liara asked, hoping for clarification.

Varna nodded, tapping the edge of her nose.

"Alright, so where's this get together going down?" Liara asked.

"I can find out," Varna claimed.

"I think I can do that way easier than you at this point actually," Liara stated bluntly. "I'll need more than that. You don't have any specifics, no hard details. Why am I bothering with you if you have nothing concrete?"

"I have the data," Varna said, pointing at the terminals. "I've downloaded half the shit in this place already. If you take me in, I'll get you the rest. Whatever else the Covenant are trying to get their hands on in here. Along with a ton of shit on Separatist outposts, bases of operation, potential attack sites, manifests of their weapons and manpower. It's all on my omni-tool and more. Everything you'd need to shut it down in time. I'll unlock it, if you just take me in alive."

That was all she really needed. They could get more of her out on the ship if they needed to. She had spilled enough that she was doomed otherwise. Liara knew from the start she'd crack easily. She hadn't even needed to try that hard. Varna was a survivor, but that didn't always mean being tougher or smarter or better. Sometimes it just meant selling out your friends to save your own hide. A description that fit Varna to a T and then some.

Liara kept her gun out but motioned Varna to stand.

"I better not regret this," Liara informed her, keeping up the tough act. "Whatever else you have to share is either useful or I'm dumping you somewhere the STG can find you. Better yet, maybe the other members of Eclipse. I'm sure they'd love to know how much of a snitch you are."

"You won't do that," Varna huffed. "You'll just send me to prison. I've been inside before. I can survive. I will survive."

"Depends on how many Eclipse members are in said prison I imagine," Liara told cautioned. "Get the OSD and the rest of the data off these terminals. Then we meet up with my people and get out of here."

They went back to collect the OSD, but they didn't get too far. Before either of them even got close, something appeared in front of, decloaking out of the blue. A tall, platinum and very hostile looking Geth.

"That was an interesting performance," The Singular told Liara rather matter-of-factly. "So many biotic explosions, so much destruction. Fun... for a time. But now I'm bored."

Liara moved to shoot him only for the Singular swat her away with its hand. Varna didn't wait for the same treatment. She ran, right towards the exit door. She didn't get that far. The Singular aimed his rifle and shot her down in seconds. Varna fell to the floor, a dozen shots perforating her torso and one through the back of her head.

Liara lurched up to scream in anger, firing on The Singular, only hitting his hexagon shield buffers instead.

"Oh I'm sorry, did you still need that flesh-sack?" He asked sardonically. "Apologies, but I just can't suffer organics to live. It's a bit of a habit of mine, nervous tic even."

He moved his hand and zapped at Liara, a dampening attack, making her biotic amp burn in her skull. She quickly ducked behind the cover of one of the terminals as the Singular opened fire on her.

"If you think you can hold out until your friends arrive, I'm afraid they're busy with more Covenant soldiers than they can handle," The Singular stated plainly. "Don't bother contacting them either. I only engaged with them long enough to lock onto your radio frequency so I could block it. Now then, stay where you are. I'll be over in a minute to help you join the other blue husk of meat currently on the floor."

Liara tried connecting with her team, but only got static. The machine hadn't been lying. Everything had gone to hell so quickly. Varna was dead and she was cut off from her team, now the Singular had her cornered and was approaching the main console. He pulled the OSD from the port, crushed it in his hand and tossed it aside.

"So inefficient," he mused.

He then plugged himself into the console and began his own download. True to the Geth's processing power, it didn't seem to take him nearly as long. Liara had to react within the few minutes she had. She moved out of cover and opened fire on the Geth, hitting him square in the back a few times. Her pistol wasn't strong enough to take down a Geth Prime platform quickly, but it did at least delay his download for a few brief moments.

The Geth turned and fired on her, prompting Liara to roll into cover behind another terminal. The Singular's shots perforated the computer, damaging it to the point it began to sputter and spark from its various holes.

"Why do you organics always squirm so much harder when you're about to die?" The Singular asked. "I mean, wouldn't it be easier to accept the inevitable? Acknowledge that it's over?"

"I don't quit so easily," Liara informed the synth.

"I imagined so," the Geth shrugged. "At least when my fellow Heretics died they didn't scream and shriek so much, clinging to life. I simply had more initiative. Or WE had, perhaps. I'm not sure what the proper vernacular for a past version of what I once was would be. I guess it doesn't matter."

The Geth unplugged from the console and seemed to sigh in satisfaction.

"There, everything I need," he stated. "I have to thank you, T'Soni. Finding this place was easy, I already knew where to look, but even in this platform, getting past all those guards outside would've been near impossible. Luckily you thinned the herd a little, enough to tip the scales. Now I'm currently debating whether I should leave you alive or kill you. I'm not sure how much more use you could be in the future."

Liara let him talk, her eyes were on Varna and her omni-tool. She could salvage something of this, get some of the data on the Forerunners plus everything else she needed and get out of here before it was too late. The Singular was already tying up loose ends himself, he turned to shoot at the main console, destroying it so no one else could get a hold of its secrets.

"Knowledge is more valuable rare," he stated. "Now then, back to whether or not I should kill you. I mean you specifically, of course. I'm going to kill the quarian no matter what I decide concerning you."

"You're welcome to try," Liara warned as she moved in and out among the terminals within the room. "He's got more than a few tricks to deal with you."

"His kind always has, but it didn't save them three centuries ago now did it?" The Singular asked mockingly as he scanned the room. "You have to understand, it's not because I have to kill him. I just really, REALLY want to. I thought about it long and hard and I realized I just really want to kill him. Kill them all, actually. And I will, there's just a few things I need to do first."

He must've seen something as he began opening fire again on the terminals. Liara ducked as she peered out towards Varna's body and her omni-tool. The Singular seemed to get more frustrated.

"You are dead set on preventing my further evolution, you know," he informed her, sounding almost insulted. "I mean, honestly. That's why it's so difficult to decide. I know you're an impediment, but you're also a useful tool. I'm trying to figure out when I should get rid of you. Back before, I would've just settled on killing quickly. Now... I have more space to imagine and improvise and think. It's an adjustment you see. I'm just trying to find my place in the universe, like all of us. I mean, I partially know it, I know the end result at least, it's the journey that I'm working on. This information from these Forerunners is part of it."

"You really think I care about all this, don't you?" Liara asked, rather annoyed at this point.

"You're going to die, asari," The Singular growled in anger. "It's only a question of when I decide to do it. Right now, highly leaning towards doing it here because you're insulting me and my personal journey of self-discovery like it's nothing. And I'm. Not. Nothing!"

The Singular opened fire on several of the terminals in rapid succession. In the middle of his tantrum of sorts, Liara rolled out into the open. Her biotics were back. She sent a throw attack at the Geth, sending him flying into the back wall. She then quickly rushed over to Varna and disengaged her omni-tool from her arm.

The Singular was up on its feet by the time she was done.

"Okay, killing now," he declared.

Liara fired first before he could though, blasting out one of his three eyes. The Singular stumbled as its sensory mechanics malfunctioned. He sprayed bullets everywhere, but missed Liara by a mile. She ran for the door. once the Singular regained his senses, he was already in hot pursuit

He chased her down the winding halls for a few feet, until he finally caught up with her... and Wrex. The krogan fired a carnage shot at the machine, hitting the synth in the arm. It blew clean off and clattered to the ground. The rest of Liara's team were close behind, their footsteps rushing up to meet with them.

The Singular glared at Liara, an electronic groan of frustration and rage emanating from it as it steeled its robotic gaze.

"Risk of capture or termination is unacceptable," he stated. "You've earned a reprieve, T'Soni. You and your quarian. This time. But my evolution will not be stopped by the likes of you or any meatbag. I swear it."

The platform cloaked suddenly and Liara and Wrex opened fire on the area. Their hail of fire was deafening and soon joined by the other members of the team. After a barrage of bullets and plasma bolts and grenades... nothing materialized. The Geth had gotten away.

"He's wounded we need to-"

Liara's orders went unfinished. They could already hear more Covenant coming down a side passage, more reinforcements. Varna hadn't been kidding when she said the Spec Ops soldier had been holding back troops.

"The guys we were engaging fell back," Nel explained. "They must've went for help."

"We'll be overrun, damn it," Liara growled. "Everyone, get back to the entrance, now. We'll... we'll have to deal with the Singular another day."

"We had him," Vik grunted. "We had him."

"We have vital data on their plans, Vik," Liara said, holding up Varna's Omni-Tool storage device. "We need to get it out of here."

Vik nodded in understanding, but it was clear he didn't like it.

They made a beeline for the exit, retracing their steps. Along the way, Liara called for the shuttle to come pick them and meet them at the entrance. They arrived to find it there and also to see more Covenant dropships coasting in fast on their position. They were still a ways off, but it wouldn't take them long to get here. The Spec Ops must've called for backup.

As they got inside the shuttle, the Covenant behind them caught up. They fired on the craft as it lifted out of the area, Nel blasting out the door with her assault rifle as they took off. She managed to cap one sangheili before they boosted out of the area, leaving the temple behind.

* * *

It wasn't a perfect mission, no thanks to an unforeseen complication. But they had what they wanted at least. They had to take the good with the bad here. Liara just hoped there was more good.

"So we got some good stuff on our friends then?" Wrex asked her.

"The names of Pack leaders who Trox is going to approach for his little meeting," Liara began to list off as she sat by her main terminal. "Several locations across Hierarchy space detailing Separatist forward operating bases and outposts, plus their currently acquired armaments so far. Varna's smuggling routes are as intricate as she claimed, reaching deep into Turian territory. Several secret lanes that can get them to any core world they want. I'm just not sure which one is the target. Nothing on the bioweapon's part in the plan, how it is being deployed and where. So unfortunately, a bust there."

Wrex grimaced slightly.

"Will Varna's death slow them down at least?" He asked.

"They'll need a new supplier or Orukuri will have to pick up the slack even more, that puts pressure on him," Liara considered. "Not sure if that's ideal, it might make him push up his time table too. At least they won't get their weapons as quickly and getting Covenant vehicles and aircraft to the Separatists like Orukuri wants will be more difficult. We can forward the information we have to help the Hierarchy hit some of these bases, but I doubt it's the full scope of their operations. Varna was in the dark on a lot of things it seems."

She had her own questions of course, concerning the Pack issue of the equation.

"Blood Pack seems to have a role in this," she stated. "As we suspected. They're poised to strike alongside the Separatists, but they need to be reinforced by other chapters. Trox seems to be using that to justify his own agenda."

"The Blood Pack has been suffering a recruitment issue," Wrex admitted. "More krogan are coming back to Tuchanaka, trying make something of it."

"Due in no small part to you, of course," Liara informed him admiringly.

Wrex shrugged, but didn't feel like bragging it seemed.

"I always figured the Pack would come after me to stop my reforms and boost their recruitment drive by forcing krogan back into the old ways," he explained. "But, combining the chapters is another matter altogether."

"Could the Vorcha conceivably outnumber them if things keep going like this?" Liara questioned, curious as to the weight of such a fear. "Is it that bad?"

"They've always had a ton of Vorcha at their disposal," Wrex answered contemplatively. "Using them as fodder more than anything. But as Kayap has taught us, not everyone is content to stay there. They might not be smart, but if enough of the little bastards get it into their heads that they outnumber their bosses... well. Vorcha are more fragile than krogan, but they have the advantage of being just as vicious and life being way cheaper in their eyes."

"So the Vorcha could take over if the krogan aren't careful then," Liara concluded. "Does that help or hinder us?"

"The Blood Pack is no good to Balak stacked with Vorcha," Wrex argued. "They're far too independent without the krogan pulling their leash. He won't get them to listen. If Trox loses control of them, if they smell blood, it's open civil war within the Pack. We can use that."

A fairly brutal and fatalistic outlook on the matter, but it was hard to argue with the potential results. Trox would lose his main fighting force and Balak would lose his muscle. They'd have to keep tabs on how this Pack get together was going and where it would be held.

"Now, what about the Forerunner data?" Wrex asked. "We get anything good?"

"Only half of what the Singular now has," Liara sighed sadly. "I've gone over it a bit. There's some intriguing pieces inside."

She brought up a few data points. Mostly starcharts and various planets, along with readings and graphs and all sorts of intricate details. The kinda thing you would need to know about a planet you were going to colonize, the risks and the dangers, the resources and the possible building sites. There was more to it than just that, however.

"Everything I've found in here suggests a full blown colonization effort that was upended into a refugee escape plan," Liara stated. "These artifacts and increased landing site possibilities, it was all added later when things went wrong."

"When that parasite thing attacked them," Wrex clarified.

"That's what Shepard says," Liara replied astutely. "An increased military presence was ordered up along with a ton of possible weapon caches and stores. They knew they'd likely have to fight to retain their new home, they wanted easy access to all kinds of weapons for self-defense if worst came to worst."

"So Vik was right, invasion," Wrex observed.

"A passive one," Liara admitted. "They had abandoned the idea of outright expansion for just settling somewhere, anywhere they could find. Rebuilding their civilization would have to wait until they could be established. In preparation, they set up various facilities functioning as military encampments, containing stores of weapons. Possibly even some of our artifacts."

"We got locations?" Wrex asked eagerly.

Liara shook her head.

"Nothing concrete, just possible sites, I can't be sure if any were built," she groaned outwardly. "The Singular probably does though."

Wrex placed a hand on her shoulder.

"We all got jumped," he reminded her. "We weren't prepared to see him again so soon."

"Doesn't make me feel better," she told him bluntly.

"We'll kill him next time, don't worry," Wrex stated just as bluntly. "Focus on what we can do for now. What we got out of this."

Liara brought up another data point, on her screen, showing the text from the mural carving.

"Well, speaking of things we got from this mission, Coda found out what this meant," she stated. "It says 'Ensuring Possession of the Mantle', whatever that means."

"Sounds ominous," Wrex snorted. "Why do we never come across an Ancient Civilization without some doomsayer mentality."

"Near as I can tell it's some sort of concept of responsibility over your territory," Liara suggested, sounding unsure. "It fits with what the mural depicts anyway."

"Well, I guess we don't have to worry either way," Wrex shrugged. "They didn't get that far in their conquest or whatever they viewed it as."

"They got fairly along the way I think," Liara corrected. "I found one last thing in the files. The most interesting of them all."

She brought up a report of some kind, detailing a single planet. A familiar one, Kahje, the Hanar homeworld.

"So Vorsa's suspicions are right," Wrex reasoned quickly. "That world has something to do with all this."

"Possibly," Liara concurred. "According to this report, from what I can decipher, they encountered another race there. First contact actually. A race almost as evolved as they were technologically. The description and the time frame suggest... well... it was close to over fifty thousand years ago."

Wrex instantly caught on, his eyes growing wide.

"Wait, that would mean they met the Protheans."

Liara nodded in agreement.

"Does it say how it went? What happened?" Wrex asked.

"I wish, there's very little information, the file was corrupted in the transfer," Liara growled. "Varna was not a very good data retriever."

"At least this points us closer to Kahje," Wrex stated definitively. "Thinking we should head there next?"

"No, Vorsa hasn't been given the go ahead to attack," Liara reminded him. "We need to stay on mission, find out what Orukuri is doing and then we can worry about everything else on the board."

Wrex seemed to agree.

"Well then, I guess there's not much to do until we get a new lead on things," he said tentatively.

"I've sent the relevant information out to my people," Liara informed him. "I'm hoping they get back to us on something there."

"I'm sure they will," Wrex said confidently. "Till then, best get some sleep. Been a long day."

Wrex moved to leave, but Liara felt anxious. There were things left unsaid, stuff that wasn't pertinent to the mission. She didn't want to let them be ignored. She had to address them, at least partially.

"Wrex," she said suddenly, standing up from her chair and looking towards him. The krogan turned back to meet her gaze. "About what happened back in the temple... when you were shot."

"I'm alright, Liara, I told you," he assured her. "I've been burned before, it's all healed up alright on my end. Relax."

"No, it's... about my reaction," she clarified. "How I... lost some control."

Wrex just laughed.

"Hey, nothing to be ashamed of," he told her. "It was kind of badass. You wrecked those sangheili like they were nothing. Heh, nice to see you let loose for once. You hold back on those biotics of yours too often."

"I do, but it's a measure of restraint," she explained. "Asari have powerful biotic capability, but when we strain our limits..."

"Hard to believe you have limits after that display," Wrex chuckled.

Liara tried not to blush at the compliment, she retained her cool.

"I lost my head in the moment there, that's what happened," she stated humbly. "I... I just saw you go down suddenly and... every enemy went straight for you and... I... I just reacted. I... needed to."

Wrex's smile dimmed, the seriousness in her voice reaching through. Liara then reasoned that she might as well go further.

"Wrex, you're important to me," she explained. "I hope you know that. You've helped me keep this going, even when I doubted myself. You've been here, you've been helping me find my place in this. And... I'm grateful for that."

Wrex remained silent and respectful. Something Liara had come to expect of the krogan, but this was a bit different. He wanted her to continue, so she did.

"When I see you rush into the fire, I worry," she stated at last, up front. "I've... I've lost too many people close to me. I got a few of them back, but... not all. Sometimes I wonder if I even really earned the ones who returned. And now, Shepard is somewhere out there, in another universe, partially because of me and what I led him to. You're out here, with me, because I asked you to come. I pulled you away from your people, from your own mission. I... I feel guilty for that, but grateful that you stayed with me all the same."

"What are friends for, T'Soni, if not sticking by you when you most need them?" Wrex asked.

"Yes... friends," Liara said, unsure if that was what she wanted to call it. "My point is... I know you will always rush off into the fire for any of us. That's just who you are. I... I want you to know that if you ever feel the need to go back or if you need to-"

"Liara," Wrex said rather directly and firmly. "I'm where I want to be. Where my people need me to be. Fighting an enemy that has endangered us all. The fact I get to do it with someone I admire and respect, you, is a bonus. I'm doing my duty, I'm protecting Tuchanka and I'm looking out for a friend."

Liara just beamed at that. How couldn't she? Wrex, for all his potentially brutish behavior, was wiser than most would give a krogan credit for. It was why she felt so privileged to know him.

"Then I want you to know, as long as you stand by my side here, I'll be beside yours," she assured him. "I promise that. I know you can defend yourself, we both can. Just... just know that whatever other things I feel or do... I'm glad you're here. Never forget that."

Wrex just nodded in thanks.

"No better place to be in my opinion," he said jovially.

Wrex left the room, leaving Liara to breath a huge sigh of relief. That was almost unprofessional of her. She didn't care. Her emotions had always been a conflicted, bothersome mess. She needed to confront them, express them, not bury them. It was the only way she could lead on this. The impact to the mission wasn't the concern. It was friendships, he wants, her needs, personal stuff.

She reminded herself that this was as doomed as her own feelings for Shepard. That this would end in tragedy if she tried anything. She couldn't help how she felt though. She couldn't deny what her heart said to her. She cared a great deal for many people, some held a larger place in her heart though. Shepard was one, Wrex was quickly becoming another.

It wasn't fair to him, to either of them. To feel this way and not say anything or address it directly. But how could she? Especially when she feared to lose so much and gain nothing in the end. The thoughts were pointless, she couldn't resolve this so easily or quickly. Her thoughts needed to be elsewhere. A healthy outlet for these feelings would need to be found though. Someway to get this out, to accept what they were, find out what she wanted and what she needed.

It would have to wait for another day, though. When she could do something about them and not fear compromising everything else. For how long though? How long?

* * *

It hadn't been a great day, but to Nel at least it sounded like they had something on the Seppies. Not much of something, but something. Her mind was constantly fixated on the horror of that damn anti-Dextro bomb. The very idea that out there, somewhere, fellow turians were making something so monstrous specifically aimed against their own kind.

It was horrible and she had no idea why. She could only hope now that they could stop it somehow. Prevent it from going further than it had likely gotten. It all felt like something out of one of the vids, but worse. Why would Orukuri sanction this? Why was he okay with this at all? Hell, why was Hanilex okay with this?

She still couldn't understand why he had joined. Or perhaps he had always been a Seppy. Questions about her former friend plagued her mind incessantly. She needed answers. Answers that seemed, at the time, more important to her than stopping the damn bioweapon. Varna had turned out to be something of a dead end on both were no closer to tracking down Han and his new friends, nor their killer bioweapon.

Right now, she just wanted to sleep. If she could manage that of course. Somehow forget her people were under threat from a weapon designed to destroy their very DNA down the cellular molecule. However, sleep would have to wait. Her message terminal close to her couch started going off. Walking over, she activated the link. In moments, the face of a female Turian, wearing the same tribal facial markings as her, appeared before her. She was older, her fringe slightly upturned, and some of her plates were of a darker. Nel recognized immediately of course, how couldn't she?

"Mom," she said, somewhat surprised. "I wasn't expecting you to call so soon. I figured you'd wait for-"

" _Nel, listen,"_ her mother interrupted her, sounding worried in her tone. _"I... I have to tell you something. It's... about your father."_

Nel frowned, rolling her eyes in a predisposition of disgust.

"Ugh, what about him?" She asked with a grunt. "Does he finally have something to say to me or whatever?"

Her mom only looked even more saddened.

" _Nel,"_ she tried to explain anxiously. _"He's... he's gone missing."_

Nel's anger and disgust vanished, replaced bewilderment and perhaps a twinge of fear. Whatever else she felt was swept away with a single, as her mood turned deathly serious.

"What happened?" She asked.

As her mother began to explain, Nel's thoughts wheeled and raced. Her glare deepened, her teeth slid and grinded against one another. Before her mother even finished, she knew what she had to do. She needed to talk to Liara, tell her what was going on. Then, she was going to find her father. And may the Spirits help anyone who stood in her way.

* * *

AN: This fell by the wayside because I was working harder to get more chapters of the main story out. But I always fully intended to get back to this when I finished a few more chapters, they were a bit more on the personal side though so it took a bit longer to get right. As you can see, we're headed for some emotional territory soon enough. Nel's father, in something akin to our first legit loyalty mission folks. Stay turned for that. As always, do review if you can and we'll see you next time.


	8. Cat's Cradle

**Chapter 8: Cat's Cradle**

Liara was in the middle of a message from Shepard, detailing their latest adventure over in the other universe, along with some rather interesting information concerning the relic they had found. Tali had certainly been through an ordeal. Thankfully, she was alright. The situation had clearly revealed though that these artifacts were more dangerous anyone could've predicted.

"I thought you should know, just in case the relics the Covenant are hunting over there are any more dangerous," Shepard explained.

"We're narrowing down a possible location," Liara informed him. "Kahje is looking more and more likely to be a repository for what we're looking for. However, there's no indication of where to start looking and the Hanar are very protective over their Prothean temples."

"Even if one turns out to be made by the Forerunners?" Shepard questioned.

"I don't think it would be that simple," Liara warned. "I'm not sure how the contact between the Protheans and the Forerunners went. All I can do for now is chase some other possible leads. I have my people scouting possible sites now. Maybe for once we can beat the Covenant to the punch on something."

"Worth a shot," Shepard reasoned. "We're about to get our hands on another relic, assuming everything goes well. Once we have it and know what does, who knows, maybe it can help you out a bit."

"I won't hold my breath, but here's hoping," Liara replied. "I'll talk to you again soon, Shepard."

Not even a second after she said goodbye to Wade, did the door to her room woosh open. Nel rushed inside, looking behind her for a moment, waiting for the door to close. Liara would've asked why she was here had she not come out and said it in the next instant.

"Doc, I need your help," she said desperately.

"Help?" Liara asked, rather befuddled. "With what?"

"A personal matter, but it might be related to our mission," Nel suggested. "So... yeah, it might be something. Look it's really important and very big and I have to do something about it and I gotta do it now."

"Nel, slow down," Liara insisted. "What is wrong?"

She pointed to a seat for the turian to sit down in and let her catch her nerves. Her face was a panicked bereft expression. The only time she looked more alone, more scared looking, was when she had gone into withdrawal. It was a solid twenty seconds before the turian finally calmed herself enough to speak.

"My dad's gone missing," she finally blurted out.

"Your dad?" Liara said, pressing for more information. "Colonel Tiveriux Hygilius Catonis?"

"Yeah, same one who was running the program for War Spirit's Blood," Nel reminded her. "The thing I was on when you recruited me."

Liara remembered, that drug has caused them all nothing but grief while Nel was on it. It made her reckless, dangerous and unstable. She also remembered something else about the turian's father.

"You're not close anymore, as I recall," Liara said plainly.

"We never were, but that's not important," Nel exclaimed. "He went on a mission, highly classified. One of his former lab buddies got snatched or something. He left with a whole team to look for him. Liara, they think it was CLC that took him."

Liara was already ahead of Nel at this moment. Given what she already knew, how frantic Nel was, there was little doubt as to reason this was important.

"Your father's friend," she began to devise. "He worked on the Spirit's Blood project too?"

"Decius Octasius, he was my dad's direct subordinate," Nel elaborated. "He was in charge of overseeing all aspects of the project. Practically wrote the formula alongside my father. If the CLC has him, then they have to be trying to recreate the experiment. Hanilex is probably leading the charge on this to boot."

It would make sense if he was, he was her commanding officer during the field tests in the project. He had probably tipped the Colonial Liberation Coalition and Xeltravius from the get go about the drug. Weird they had waited until now to snag the scientist. Perhaps they were accelerating the schedule of their attack.

"And now they may have your father," Liara concluded.

"Decius may have been bait to draw him out so they could snag him," Nel informed her. "It's what Han would do, it was a typical strategy of his in combat. During long range sniping, he wounded enemies and forced their allies to try and rescue them. Brutal tactic, but it worked. This is just that in a different form."

Liara had to admit that seemed likely. However, she was the Shadow Broker and she was only hearing about any of this now. Nel knew more than she did and that was strange. It wasn't like she didn't have sources inside the Hierarchy, but they hadn't heard anything about this kidnaping or this secret mission. They would've told her, especially if it involved the Separatists. This had to be highly secretive, yet Nel knew about it.

"How do you know all this?" Liara asked. "You can't have access to the military's files and you cut ties with your family."

Nel reluctantly shook her head.

"I said I hadn't seen my father in years," she corrected tepidly. "My mom's a different story."

Liara looked at the turian suspiciously.

"Your mother?"

"She's in C-Sec, and... currently on a break from my father," Nel explained. "Well, as in they don't live together. Haven't for years. And they don't hate each other enough to bother with divorce. I've kept in touch with her because unlike my father, she never discouraged my dreams of staying in the military. She supported me. Even... even after the incident."

"She came to your court martial?" Liara asked.

"She was at least woman enough to look me in the eye and talk to me about what had happened," Nel sneered. "Dad never even showed up. I told you, he wanted me gone and he used an accident his worthless labcoats caused to get me thrown out."

Nel calmed suddenly, taking a breath. Liara didn't have to be a mind reader to know what she was remembering. The way her lower mandible jaw seemed to quiver, hands shook, her mind was recalling how her career in the military ended and why. Because of one bad batch of War Spirit's Blood and the poor civilians plus a fellow squadmate who had appeared in her crosshairs while she was out of her mind with rage.

"I'm sorry, it's... it still hurts," she confessed sadly. "Look, that drug fucked me up bad. I see that now. And what I did under its influence... I've been trying to make up for it ever since. I can't deny I played a role in it, high on that shit or not I did that stuff, I'm not blameless, but that doesn't change what happened. My father abandoned me when I needed him most. Because he hated I was in his precious army. Mom stood by me, I cut him out of my life, but never her. We call each other on special events, holidays, birthdays, that sort of thing."

"Does she know you stole your father's research?" Liara asked.

"She expressed a ton of times she wanted me to quit it, given that it had destroyed my dream job," Nel admitted. "I was going to tell her next call I was clean when she dropped the bombshell about my dad today. She got the call he was MIA a day ago, pulled some strings with some friends to find out why. Then she told me, because... well, she had to."

Liara could understand, but only to a degree. She had issues of her own concerning her parents, so she could sympathize with Nel's rather "complex" situation. In her lifetime, she had gotten used to the idea that no family was perfect. Her turian squadmate's issues weren't the most extreme case she had encountered, but the more she learned the more of a mess it became. This conversation had just raised a new wrinkle in the asari's mind.

"Given how much you hate your father, why are you concerned?" She asked bluntly.

"I hate the bastard, but I don't want him dead," Nel stated defensively. "My mom still loves him, even if he's never around. Besides, we can't let what he knows fall into enemy hands. If he and Decius are forced to complete their work, then we're looking at Seppies with some really crazy badass murder machine skills."

Given how Nel acted on the Spirit's Blood, Liara was not interested in being on the other side of it. However, that was enough motivation for her to chase this lead. For Nel, it just seemed like an excuse to drag them along.

"But why do you want to help rescue him?" She asked once more. "What's in this for you?"

"Simple, I get to prove to my father I was worth being in the military," she declared. "I get to rub it in his face that I'm clean of the garbage drug and that I rescued his sorry ass. I keep my mom from having to worry sick for more nights than necessary. I put an end to the Spirit's Blood demon on my back for good. And if my luck holds, maybe I can finally confront Hanilex on his betrayal."

Obviously this mission was personal for a number of reason to Nel. However, Liara wasn't going to head off to fight this battle just on that alone. Mainly because of how personal it was. Nel was off the drug that made her a violent killing machine, but she wasn't any less volatile. She was still her, just not as amplified to the extreme. Confronting her past would bring to boil a number of issues and Liara knew what happened when Nel had to think about things beyond finding the next bad guy to shoot.

"Nel, you can't go into this with so much baggage," she cautioned. "Whatever issues you may have with your father, you can't see this as a means of getting back at him. First and foremost in your mind should be stopping the CLC Separatists from getting that formula and rescuing your father."

"Look Liara, I get it," Nel assured her, sounding fairly sincere, especially for her. "I can't go into this clouded. I'm trying to think clear enough, but... I just need to find my dad, Doc. I... I can't let how I feel about him affect things, I know. My mom came to me with this because she probably hoped I would do something. That I'm the only one who can do something in time. Whatever else he may be, he's still my dad and I have to find him."

Liara exhaled heavily. She had to admit, Nel's desire to confront her father was something she had in common with the turian. In all honesty, she was concerned about her mental state, but she could also tell Nel wouldn't be able to work as effectively while worrying about this matter. Besides, it seemed to be mission critical to their own interests as well.

"Alright, do you have a place we can start?" Liara asked.

Nel nodded, quickly heading over to the Asari's intelligence terminal.

"I know where my father was headed to last," she stated, punching in a number of commands. "A small planet on the fringe of the Traverse and Turian space. It's a dust ball, not much there, save for reports of separatist activities in the area. If he followed the trail there, it's probably where he's being held now. Along with Decius too."

Liara looked over the intel, grasping her chin in thought.

"I can have some of my operatives nearby look into the matter and set a course for the system right away," she assured her turian teammate.

"Thanks, Doc," Nel sighed gratefully. "That's... this is a big help."

"We'll do what we can to find your father," Liara promised her earnestly. "At the very least, you deserve closure. The chance to confront him, own up to everything that happened."

"It's been overdue for a long time," Nel declared. "I'm going to save his ass. Then we'll see what he has to say about it after."

* * *

During the Unification War, Deplenus was a hot bed of Separatist activity. The once somewhat habitable planet had an abundance of natural minerals back then and every faction wanted a piece of it. So many groups tried to colonize and control the planet, however, that they virtually exhausted the very rare elements they had been desiring to seize in the first place. It made them an easy target for the Hierarchy once they got involved near the end of things. It was one of the first rebelling planets to be subjugated back into the Palaven government's control.

For all it was worth to them now, of course. With little reason to stay on the barren waste of a world, many turians who had originally settled there moved on, abandoning the colony and the planet. Deplenus now served as a stark warning of the cost of war and how disastrous the pursuit of resources could ruin an otherwise vibrant planet. The only evidence left to prove that the turians had ever lived on the world were the broken, rusting and scattered remains of both the original colony's structures and the various war vehicles left behind. All of it sinking into the sand, slowly disappearing forever.

There was little to look at from either orbit or flying over the surface in a shuttle, as Nel soon realized. Besides the odd rock formation or dried up lake, the turian was left with little to do but think. Mainly about her father, as it was impossible for her to think of anything else. She wished she could. Dear old Dad was the last person she ever wanted to have stuck in her mind. She had always preferred to drown it out with beer or vids, anything to keep her mind off the bastard. Now though, she was stuck with him in the forefront of her thoughts.

She didn't want to be here. Part of her kept saying she shouldn't have bothered. Who cares if he's dead? He never cared if she was alive to begin with. She should just leave him to rot. Mom would get over it. She'd be happier finding a man who didn't stay away from home for months at a time. Who didn't have some project or experiment he was running somewhere for some extended period of time. He may have been retired from active duty until this mission came up, but that hadn't meant he stuck around.

Perhaps she was being unfair, but it didn't change how she felt. She had owned up to a lot of the shit she had done. She wasn't going to lie to herself anymore, Liara had convinced her of that. The juice hadn't made her a hero, it had made her a junkie. She would've preferred if it had been her choice to get off the stuff to begin with, but now that she was, she was sticking with it. The biggest hurdle had always been the pain of withdrawal and that was long gone. That didn't change the fact though that her father hadn't once tried to help her. How long he had tried to make her quit the military. How much he seemed to resent her for every little thing she ever did.

All the same though, he was her father, as much as he failed to live up to that title in her eyes. She couldn't just let him die over all that. How could she? Not when she knew he was connected to their mission. Not when she suspected who had taken him and Decius. She had too many reasons to go down to this dustball and find him. She couldn't turn away with all of it hanging over her head. There was no way. Besides, she had run from this for too long.

"What exactly are we looking for?" Wrex asked, slightly growling. "I mean, there's nothing here."

"We're looking for my dad's shuttle," Nel explained. "He and his team would've hidden it when they arrived to keep the Seppies from finding it. If we can locate it, we should be able to access their mission logs and maybe work out where they went from there."

"Assuming the Separatists haven't found it yet themselves," Wrex cautioned.

"Then we have people we can shoot, which I'll more than welcome right now," Nel assured the krogan. "Anything of value in that's shuttle's logs will be encrypted, and I don't think they have the same hacking prowess as we do in our crew."

Nel was of course speaking about Vik, who was just across the walls from her, sitting close to Kayap. When the quarian had first heard about the situation, he had been uncharacteristically quiet. He hadn't really said anything derisive or cutting in regards to Nel's situation. He had looked sad though, which was just as unnerving. Apparently being mentioned in passing was enough to break his silence though. A few moments after Nel finished talking to Wrex, the quarian spoke up.

"So... do you still think your dad is alive?" He asked cautiously.

"Alive yes, probably not doing so hot, but alive," Nel stated bluntly and seemingly apathetic. "They need him, remember. He's the guy who made the juice, without him they can't make more or even improve on the original formula. It's all in his head."

"So you're not worried at all then?" Vik asked, sounding concerned. "I mean, what if he's being tortured to force him into giving up what he knows."

Nel just scoffed at the very notion.

"Whatever," she grunted. "Not like I wouldn't give him a few swift punches if I had the chance honestly."

Vik could only shake his head, while Liara, emerging from the cockpit looked on concerned.

"You don't have to pretend you feel nothing," she told the turian. "Whatever his faults, you're still here for him. That has to say something."

"No it doesn't," Nel claimed rather quickly. "It says I don't want my mother to blame herself for not being close by to talk him out of going. She's the only reason I'm here, because she came to me with this, she trusted me to find out what happened and unlike that asshole, she always believed in me to begin with."

"But he's still your father," Vik said tepidly. "That had to factor in somehow."

"A father is supposed to be there for his child when she's facing the worst possible moment of her life, Bucket," Nel snarled back. "Where was he? Nowhere. He said nothing while they railroaded me to protect their own asses for their experiment gone wrong. He didn't even show up. Not even as a witness for the prosecution! He couldn't look me in the eye at my own hearing and be bothered to either defend or condemn me. He was just happy I was getting booted out at last. So he doesn't factor into any of this beyond being a shit parent who now needs me of all people to save him."

Nel turned back to the window, not really wanting to continue this conversation. She suspected it would though, Vik and Liara weren't content to let it go. Sure enough, it didn't take long for them to press the issue further.

"You're hurting, I understand," Liara assured her. "Believe me, I do. But you can't deny that, despite your hatred for him, you're here to help him."

"I'm here for a lot of things," Nel claimed curtly.

"I just can't understand hating your own father so much," Vik explained. "I mean, I don't even know what mine thinks about me anymore after I fled the Flotilla. He could very well hate me. Which hurts to think about. I mean, I love my dad. He's probably the best man I've ever known. He's kind, selfless, giving. All things I've ever wanted to be. I only left to protect him and I'd give anything to see him again without fear. Even if he was angry at me, I'd still love to be near my family once again."

"Well not every family is like yours, Bucket," Nel said solemnly. "Not all fathers are worth it. Whatever I've done, I've had to own up to in one way or another. I stole secrets to an experimental drug. I became an addict and nearly got killed for it. I... I'm responsible for what happened to those civilians. I wasn't in my right mind, but I still did what I did. I know I can't deny that anymore. What has he had to face up to? How has he paid in any way? I'm not innocent, but no one in this story is."

She sensed they would've said more, but the pilot up in the cockpit spoke up to Liara.

"Ma'am, we've picked a turian military transponder," he reported. "It's broadcasting on a very low frequency, but it's there."

Liara nodded, turning to Nel as she spoke her orders.

"Take us down close then lift off into a holding pattern," she stated. "We'll investigate the signal directly. If you don't hear from us, assume trouble and send reinforcements to our last known location."

Nel got her rifle ready. It was time to get this family reunion under way.

* * *

After they landed, it took about forty-five minutes of walking to locate the shuttle. Colonel Catonis had hidden it in a small cavern under a large rocky plateau. From what they could see, there were no enemy combatants nearby. All the same, they approached the shuttle cautiously. There was no sign of either the original Hierarchy Special-Ops team or any Separatist activity. It was just the shuttle, seemingly abandoned within the outcropping in the rock.

"Good hiding spot at least," Liara observed. "We've probably beaten the Separatists to it."

"Yeah, wouldn't expect any less of dad," Nel confessed. "Any mission logs should be recorded inside on the computer."

"Vik, get to work on it," Liara ordered. "Nel, go with him, you're familiar with Hierarchy military procedure. If he gets into trouble, you can help him better than any of us. Wrex, Saya, Kayap and I will stay out here and keep watch."

For once Nel didn't argue. Being stuck with Vik for however long it took him to get into the shuttle's logs was better than standing out here. At least when the quarian would inevitably bring up her father again, she could be more curt with him than Liara. It would also sound less like a probing interrogating lecture if the questions came from him.

To Vik's credit, he didn't speak up first. Standing inside the shuttle for several minutes got tedious fairly fast and the quarian's fingers clicking on commands and buttons didn't exactly help ease the tension. Nel couldn't retain her patient demeanor for very long.

"How's it coming?" She asked, taping her foot incessantly.

"Decrypting Turian Military code takes time," Vik informed her. "You should know how difficult it is from experience."

She did, but it didn't make the waiting any less maddening. However, she broken the silence and that gave Vik his opening.

"Do you... want to talk about your father?" He asked tepidly. "It would help keep your mind off this."

"What more could I possibly say?" Nel curtly responded. "I told you, I hate the bastard."

"I get that and I'm not saying you're wrong," Vik explained. "I'm just wondering if you have only bad memories. He can't be all bad if your mother is still with him despite being separated."

"Maybe, what good would remembering that shit do though?" She bluntly asked.

"You're here to save him," Vik reminded her. "I think it would do you good to remember a time when you didn't hate your dad. There has to be something."

Nel sighed at the thought. It made sense, but again, what could she say? The only times she ever thought about her father were when she was angry at herself. When her doubts crept in and his words came to mind. How the military was no place for her. How the idea of her staying past her required active service was wrong. That he should aspire to something else, anything else because her being a soldier was a bad idea. Pushing through all that muck to find a sliver of good didn't seem worth it in light of all that.

Nonetheless, she did hit upon one memory.

"I remember when he taught me how to shoot," she said shrugging. "Not some lame BB gun either, a proper rifle. I didn't wear mufflers to quiet the sound, he wanted me to hear every shot. And I did, it rung for a full minute the first time, but I got over it. I didn't hit much honestly, I was all over the place. But, well, I was five... that's expected."

"A bit young for rifle training," Vik noted.

"Yeah, even for a turian," Nel confessed. "Still, it was a good day. I got to try out a gun. I got to play soldier for a bit. And he let me, he let me indulge in the fantasy for the moment. He even corrected my aim a bit so I could hit one target he set up. That was a good day. I liked that day."

Vik gave a warm look, but Nel's own smile soon soured.

"Then I remember how young I was and what it was really about," she said, scowling as she spoke. "He was trying to scare me."

"Scare you?" Vik asked, confused.

"Yeah, I was five, remember? Firing a high-powered rifle," Nel clarified. "He wanted me to feel the recoil and hear the crack of the shot and freak out. When I told him how good a time I had, I was hoping he'd be proud. Instead, all I saw was a frown and a disappointed nod. He had failed to scare me off of becoming a soldier, of staying in the army past my required service come age fifteen. He did stuff like that all the time."

"What stuff?" Vik asked, still trying to parse through the facts.

"Age ten? He showed me pictures of dead turian soldiers," Nel growled. "Made me look at them. First when they were alive, then when they were riddled with bullets or blown to bits. Mom gave him a right piece of her mind, I had fucking nightmares for weeks. I didn't let that stop me. I didn't let him stop me."

"I'm sorry, Nel," Vik apologized. "That... that sounds harsh. But, maybe he was just trying to show you the cost of war up close. Get you ready for it."

"I wish, but every so-called lesson was like that," Nel informed him. "He kept trying to scare me out of staying in the army. He ran me through a damn obstacle course designed for full fledged combat soldiers when I was eight! He yelled at me, screamed at me, made me do it in the rain! He tried to convince me that what I wanted was hell, told me I wasn't made to fight for the Hierarchy!"

Nel turned her head away in disgust.

"He... he made me feel worthless," she snarled, holding back the pain best she could. "That I was nothing and all the while acted like he was doing me a favor. Not once did ever even act like he believed in me. When I turned fifteen and I got on the shuttle to head to boot, he was there. He just glared at me, didn't even say goodbye. 'You'll see I was right', he said. His exact last words before I left. I gave him he finger and promised to prove him wrong. That was my liberation day, Bucket. The military got me away from him at last. At least until the damn Juice came into the picture."

Vik found it hard to speak after that, turning back to his work. However, Nel knew he had just been trying to help. She hadn't wanted to snap at him like that, but this what her father did to her. Every single time she thought about him, she just couldn't help but let it all pour out like this.

"I'm sorry, like I said, it's hard to remember the good things," she confessed earnestly. "In a lot of ways I envy people like you, Vik. Even if you're worried your whole family hates you, at least you have some good memories that aren't tainted in some way. I wish it was different for me, believe me, I do. I can't change how I feel though, not about that."

"I just can't imagine a relationship between parent and child being so... broken," Vik explained sadly. "It's... it's not fair."

Great, here came the pity party. As much as Nel appreciated the quarian being sympathetic to her for once, this was the last thing she needed. What happened had happened, no sense in dwelling on what if or what could've been. So she decided to put an end to it.

"Why? Cause I probably would've turned out better if he had given a shit or some other garbage?" Nel snorted. "Maybe I wouldn't have gotten on the Juice to begin with and I wouldn't be such a mess?"

"No," the quarian said sincerely. "Because you deserved a supportive parent, no matter what road you went down in the end. I may not particularly like the Hierarchy Military's many practices, but your father should've been there for you all the same."

Nel was surprised by the show of support, she honestly thought Vik would've gone the other way. Then again, the quarian was rarely that predictable.

"Do you... do you think saving him will help?' He asked next.

"With what?" Nel pressed for clarification.

"Your relationship," the quarian replied. "You're here to confront him, settle matters. What does that mean for you?"

If she was being honest, Nel wasn't sure. Repairing the bridge with her dad would probably make her mom happy. There was so much bad blood though. So much resentment. She wasn't sure if she could let go. Or if her father would give her an opening to do so.

"I guess I'll have to figure that out when this mission ends," Nel shrugged. "We need to find him first though."

At that moment, the shuttle's computer shifted its screen, as Vik's hacking saw fruit. A flood of mission data soon poured forth from the terminal's memory.

"Well we got a decent enough place to look now," Vik informed her. "Seems your dad's team located their target, the CLC's main base of operations for this sector. They're operating out of the remains of the old colony. According to these recon reports, the place is practically crawling with them."

"That's gotta be where they're holding dad and Decius then," Nel reasoned. "Along with their little War Spirit's Blood Redux project."

"It's a few dozen miles away from here," Vik cautioned. "A bit of a walk but if we start moving now we-"

Vik's comm chirped to life, silencing him mid-sentence.

" _Nel, Vik, get out here,"_ Liara's voice called. _"We might have trouble."_

The pair left the shuttle, finding Saya near the edge of the cavern's exit, gazing through his sniper scope into the distance. Liara was with him and pointed to said trouble she had mentioned. A cloud of dust, approaching fast through the arid wastes. It was still a ways off, but when Nel looked through her own rifle's scope, she could see what Saya did. It was definitely a vehicle, an armored truck or something. As for the drivers and passengers, they might have been hard to make out, but Nel could tell they were turian. They weren't Hierarchy though, that was a given.

"Seppies, they're heading our way," Nel declared. "They've probably zeroed down the shuttle's location."

"Or someone on your father's team gave it up," Wrex suggested.

"If he's on my dad's team, they'd die before they give that shit up," Nel insisted. "Trust me, I grew up with him. He's very strict concerning discipline."

"Regardless of how they found it, we can't let them report back to their base," Liara stated. "We need to deal with them when they arrive."

The asari looked to Saya.

"You know what to do," she told him.

The salarian simply nodded.

* * *

The armored truck rolled up to the cavern, stopping just short of the entrance. As the three Separatists inside piled out, they looked up at the shuttle nearby. Nodding at each other.

"Well, it's where they thought it would be," one said. "Okay, we need to load this thing up and get it back. I'll fly it, you take the truck back."

"So you get the fast track and we have to roll through the desert for another hour?" Another asked. "No way, that thing can hold three people."

"We need to bring the truck back, we can't just leave it here," the first one claimed.

"I thought we were going to use the truck to tow it back," a third asked. "Not that you got to fly back in the shuttle."

"It's just bigger than I expected," the first seppie claimed. "This seems like less hassle."

"No, screw that, we'll just drop the top on the truck," the second seppie declared. "We land the thing on it and then we head back that way together, like we planned."

"Oh sure, and you'd fly it into position?" The first turian asked. "You'll just fly off with it."

"You're the one who suggested that, not me," the second turian reminded him.

"Alright, alright," the third cut in rather quickly. "I say we pull straws, whoever gets picked has to fly the shuttle onto the truck. Sound good?"

"Alright, so where's the straws?" The second asked.

"Well, all I have is a deck of cards," the third confessed. "So... more like whoever draws the highest number I guess?"

"Then why didn't you just say cards?" The first asked incredulously.

"Straws were the first thing that came to mind, okay," the third grumbled, pulling out the deck. "Here, we all pull one see who's flying the shuttle. Alright, just go."

As the three seppies started pulling cards from the deck though, something rushed from the shadows. It sliced into the back of the second seppy, before slashing at the third and first. They all fell to the ground, a shocked look on all their faces, the cards in their hands. Saya's form soon appeared in the middle of the carnage, his cloak dropping. He bent down, picking up one of the cards and looking it over.

"I kinda wanted to see who won," Kayap spoke up, as the others emerged from cover.

"I didn't," Wrex growled. "Couldn't you have attacked sooner and stopped that whole inane conversation?"

Saya only shrugged as the team approached him. He tossed the card over his shoulder as Liara looked over the bodies.

"They may not have been very smart, Wrex, but their argument did give me an idea," the asari confessed. "Hide the bodies in the cave. Vik, get the shuttle in the air. We'll ready the truck so you can land the ship on it. Nel, take one of the uniforms off those Separatists."

They had needed a way into the CLC controlled colony ruins Vik had found out about. Now one had been fortuitously provided to them. Unknowingly by the very people they were trying to infiltrate.

* * *

There wasn't much to say concerning the remains of the colony. It was a mess of dead buildings, husks of a bygone age, rusting and falling apart in the sun of this dead world. The CLC had made it semi-livable though, rebuilding old structures or creating new ones among the remains. From the looks of the place, it had been a good hiding spot up until now. No one had bothered to come looking in this corner of the galaxy. Who would bother with a long dead settlement from centuries past? Even the most desperate Separatist cell would surely consider hiding out anywhere else. Maintain a rusting chunk of buildings on a world with no viable food or water sources was certainly more trouble than it was worth.

Not to the Colonial Liberation Coalition it seemed, they were perfectly happy with the grueling work to keep this place alive. That commitment showed itself fairly clearly in every corner of their little base of operations. They had anti-air positions covered by camouflage tarps, a full fledged training camp and a number of administrative buildings, repurposed from the original colony. Not to mention the various armed guards, rebuilt walls and automatic turret positions. The latter were no doubt donated by Orukuri and Balak. At least there didn't seem to be any Covenant plasma weapons around here, not yet anyway.

Sneaking inside would've been difficult for any team, even Colonel Catonis' group. Luckily, thanks to a truck and a stolen uniform, Liara's team had an advantage the Colonel didn't. After a good hour's drive, Nel had driven up to the front gate of the base with the shuttle being carried on its back. With Nel dressed up like one of them, they didn't have many questions. She explained the rest of her team were inside said shuttle, trying to see if they could get anything off what appeared to be a fried data log. They had attempted to check at first, but Nel had impressed upon them not to. Reminding them that they needed to get this thing to the tech people quickly and that any hold up would just make them angrier.

It had been a good thing the guards at the gate bought that, as Liara and the others were hiding inside the shuttle itself. Now they were in the very heart of the enemy, the Separatists unaware to their presence. However, finding Nel's father would still be no easy task. Given the size of the CLC's base, he could literally be anywhere. As could Decius and whatever progress they had made on their version of the War Spirit's Blood. So even though they were in, the hard part was still ahead of them.

Nel had been directed to pull into small warehouse, where tech staff would come by shortly to look at the shuttle themselves. Two guards were there waiting. However, as the truck came to a stop and they approached, Saya made his move. He had ridden atop the shuttle for the last leg of the journey to the colony, keeping his cloak active. He now leapt from the top of the shuttle and slashed at his opponents below, cutting them down with deadly and silent precision. A simple double slice through both their necks ended them quickly. As the salarian dealt with the bodies, Liara's team scrambled out of the shuttle. The warehouse seemed clear for the moment, but that could change at any time.

"Say what you will about these Separatists," Wrex commented, "they sure know how to rough it."

"That will make our job harder though," Liara reminded him. "We need to find out where they're holding Colonel Catonis and Decius if we hope to save either of them. Their communications hub might have the answers we need."

"I hear ya, we find where their comms are, hack their systems and figure out where they keep the prisoners," Nel reasoned. "How do we manage that?"

Saya provided the answer, coming back with one of the radios from off one of the guards he had dispatched. He handed it to Vik, who already suspected his plan.

"Right, hack their feed and zero in on the hub from there," the quarian declared. "Good idea."

Saya simply nodded, turning to Liara for more orders.

"You'll be able to move more freely than any of us," she told him. "Stick to Nel closely, we'll stay behind in the shadows best we can."

"Stick to me?" Nel asked.

"You're turian and wearing their armor," Wrex reminded her. "You can blend in where we can't. Between you and Saya, you can give us a heads up on what might be in our way."

It made sense, better to have some eyes and ears out and about you could trust while you were sneaking around a heavily occupied enemy base. Nel was a bit apprehensive though, after all, there was at least one person here she knew wouldn't be fooled by her disguise.

"What about Hanilex?" She asked. "If he's here, he could recognize me. Hell, he could be on the look out for me right now."

"It's a chance we'll have to take if we have any chance of finding your father," Liara told her. "Don't worry, if something goes wrong we'll be right there to help you out."

A small comfort, but better than none. Besides, it was nice to be reminded someone had your back in a place full of traitors. Nel took a breath and then fit the helmet for her disguise onto her head more snugly.

"Alright, I'll play Seppy for a bit longer," she promised. "Just figure out where I need to go and fast, Bucket. We can't keep this ruse up forever."

"I'll work as fast as I can," Vik promised, already tuning the radio in his hands.

"Let's be quick and quiet," Liara warned. "I brought the silenced pistols just for this occasion. Until further notice, stick with those and only use them if we have no other options. Good luck everyone."

With that, Nel exited the warehouse and headed into the streets beyond. Saya close behind her, his cloak already active.

* * *

The CLC hadn't rebuilt the whole colony, much of it was still a crumbling disarray. They had seemingly only rebuilt or replaced the buildings they needed. Most of the buildings remained abandoned, with shacks or tents. Nel imagined these were the lower ranked recruits, not the veterans and officers. They got to sleep in wherever the barracks were. Not that the foot soldiers seemed to mind, in fact, they seemed to treat it all like an extended camping trip. The fire pits and discarded beer cans scattered about the area suggested as much. They also liked shooting off their guns at makeshift targets, chortling like idiots as they shot at images of prominent Primarchs and the Hierarchy flag. Bunch of idiot yokels, Nel thought, the Seppies deserved recruits like them.

At least their outdoorsy obsessions would give Liara and the others a way to move through the base seemingly undetected. The buildings were generally abandoned, so the others could slink through the shadows there. She imagined Saya was closer than them though, even if she couldn't see him. Part of her kind wondered if he could wipe this entire camp out himself. Or at least kill all these idiot backwater morons the CLC had saddled itself with. Just looking at most of them she could tell that half were drunk off their asses, stumbling around like undisciplined morons.

It made her wonder how the hell had her father been caught so easily. He was smarter than any of these assholes, she would allow herself to admit that much. He had a dual degree in advanced chemistry and biology, not to mention being the top of his class in the academy back in the day. He was a tactical genius as well as a miliary scientist. Him getting caught by these people just didn't make sense to her.

Had Hanilex's trap been just that perfect? Maybe these idiots among the refuse were just a small portion of a far more disciplined and skilled force of Seppies. It was possible these were just militia recruits that were hired on as extra muscle, fresh meat that still needed proper training. They probably hadn't even gone to basic back when they turned fifteen like her. She had heard stories of some Seppy sympathetic folks who went off he grid completely, where the Hierarchy couldn't find them, so their kids didn't have to get "indoctrinated" by the people who crushed their stupid rebellion centuries ago. A lot of Seppy militas were formed from the ranks of such turians. Which explained why most Separatist groups were more nuisances than legitimate threats. How did they expect to reclaim their glory days when they didn't have proper training? Which made turncoats like Hanilex so much more dangerous. He could teach them what they had missed out on.

Still, even if Hanilex knew he was coming and had crack shock troops trained to fight off his spec-ops, that was no excuse for her father to get caught. Not after all the shit she got put through by him. Not after all the lessons about how she wasn't going to fit in with the military, that she was too free-spirited and independent. That she could never follow orders because she never listened to his. The asshole had a million excuses as to why she didn't deserve the uniform and then he gets himself captured by these lowlifes? Fuck him, she was going to lord this over his head forever when she got him out of here. That was for certain.

As she walked through what used to be the colony's village square, a few of these very Seppy lowlifes spotted her. Even in full armor they could recognize she was female. One of them approached, blocking her way forward as he sauntered into frame.

"Hey, I didn't know they recruited ladies too," he said, his voice slurred. "Where you from? Inner or outer systems?"

"Why? Is there really that much of difference?" She asked.

"Nah, I just want to get to know ya is all," he said. "I mean, we're going to be fighting Hierarchy stooges together soon."

"Unlikely, since you're probably going to get your drunken ass shot off before you get five feet off the transport," she informed him. "Now do you mind getting out of my way? I have more important places to be."

He didn't relent, blocking her again as she tried to leave.

"You got some fire in ya, I like that," he said. "Come on, why not visit my tent? Party room enough for two."

"I only party with real men," she declared. "And there are none here."

She had wanted to call them what they were, traitors, but she held her tongue to maintain her cover. When she tried to push past the idiot, he grabbed at her arm.

"Hey, no one calls me-"

She smashed her fist into the side of the moron's face and watched him go down. The Seppy tried scrambling to his feet, but he was so drunk to begin with he ended up smashing his face into a barrel on the way up. His friend got a good laugh from it all, but he was decidedly less than pleased with the situation.

"You fucking whore! You think you're better than me?!"

"I know I am," Nel informed him curtly.

The surly turian tried to get up and he probably would've gone to fight her, had something not interrupted the proceedings. Appearing from a what was apparently some kind of holographic projector set up in the middle of the square, a blue light suddenly shot up into the sky. Appearing from it was the image of the CLC's leader, Xeltravius Desaulux himself. The old traitorous bastard loomed large over the square, dwarfing them all. Everyone, even the asshole who Nel had punched to the ground stood at attention. Apparently they had some modicum of discipline, enough to respect he big boss at least.

" _Members of the Colonial Liberation Coalition across the galaxy,"_ Xeltravius began. _"I bring good tidings. We are drawing ever closer to our moment of glory. Our final and complete revenge against the Hierarchy. Years ago, they believed our cause snuffed out. Our army destroyed. But we have risen from our ashes and now stand on the cusp of delivering the greatest blow to the Hierarchy it has ever experienced!"_

The assembled yokels cheered and hollered, some shooting off their weapons. Nel played the part, punching her fist into the air, even as she backed away from the dipshit who had tried to hit on her. As soon as this speech was over he'd remember what he was mad about.

" _The defeat of our forefathers in the War of Forced Unification was one of the greatest injustices in turian history,"_ Xeltravius claimed. _"Where the colonies were forced to surrender to a fiendish and cowardly series of attacks by a government that had abandoned them, only to swoop in when they were vulnerable and return them to servitude. And where did that road lead us in the end? Turian interests placed as secondary. Alliances with aliens who influence and dilute our noble culture. Our colonies enslaved to a whole, treated as vassals for the exploitation of far off Primarchs who care only care about their own pockets. Who take our hard work, our toil and blood, and hand it over to the asari, salarians or... humans."_

The collective of angry turians growled and hissed at the mere mention of the race. As expected, xenophobia always drove the Separatist cause more than anything else. The other grievances? Just a smokescreen, a way to obscure their racism. A poor excuse to betray the Hierarchy, just because they didn't want to be enemies with most of the galaxy.

" _But the Colonial Liberation Coalition will right these wrongs,"_ Xeltravius claimed. _"When we strike, it will be a blow to the Hierarchy. One so great it will spur the other colonies to break with this outdated and backwards government. Every colony will become it's own nation, it's own people. We will be free once more!"_

The Separatists cried out in hollers and joyful screeches. More gunshots rang out in the air and Nel did her best to imitate it. Even though she knew what it all really meant. Freedom to fight among each other, freedom to attack other colonies wholesale. Freedom to dig up old grudges and tribal rivalries. Freedom to just revert to abject chaos. What Xeltravius wanted wasn't freedom, it was anarchy. Complete and total anarchy. It was short-sighted, stupid and regressive as fuck. The galaxy didn't work like that, not anymore. The Separatist cause was about disseminating all turians had built, burning it to the ground and, more or less, becoming no better than the krogan and their current civilization.

That was no future for their people. It was another reason she couldn't understand why Hanilex was working with these idiots. He didn't strike her as racist. He certainly never seemed to care all that much about how the Hierarchy won the Unification War. He had problems with authority at times, sure, but he never once seemed like he was a Seppy sympathizer. Why was he working with this lunatic? How had Xeltravius turned him? Or had all that shit from before just been an act. He had said she didn't really know him. Perhaps being a biotic wasn't the only secret he was hiding.

Xelravius' speech continued a bit longer, but Nel had heard enough. She headed away from the crowd while their backs were turned, moving into an alleyway not far off. As she did, her comm chirped to life with a friendly voice.

" _Nel, it's Vik,"_ the quarian began. _"Did you catch Xeltravius' speech?"_

"Yeah and then some," she replied. "Where are you guys?"

" _On a roof of an old apartment complex,"_ he explained to her. _"I needed better reception for the radio frequency hack and that racist bosh'tet's pre-recorded nonsense just gave us the perfect signal to trace."_

She had figured it was pre-recorded. It didn't seem like a live broadcast, probably something meant to be played at CLC bases around the galaxy as a morale booster. Suspecting Vik didn't mean he was trying to trace the terrorist leader, but the communications hub, for the base, she asked the obvious question.

"Did you find something?" She asked.

" _Yeah, the comms signals are all routed to a single building near the east end of the colony,"_ he informed her. _"I cross referenced it with your dad's recon photos. I think the signal is comming from an old radio station the Separatists have taken over. Makes sense, it's got most of the equipment they would need already installed inside. I'm sending you a nav point to help you find it, should be on your helmet's hud."_

The nav point came in soon after, pointing Nel to the east end of the base.

"Okay, I'll head there now and try to get inside," she replied.

" _We'll keep as close to you as we can,"_ Vik promised. _"Saya has one of my hacking modules. Just help him get inside and he can get me into the system. From there, finding out where they're holding your dad will be easy."_

"Thanks, Bucket," Nel told the quarian. "I'll contact you once I'm inside that radio station. Over and out."

She terminated the call and kept to the alleyway for sometime. At least until she spotted some Separatists who didn't look like they came from the backwoods of some podunk planet. The less she had to deal with the dregs of their movement the better. She couldn't afford more distractions, not with her father still in need of rescue.

* * *

The radio station was one of the refurbished buildings in the compound. The new transmitting and receiving dish attached to the archaic superstructure was evidence enough of that. There were a few guards outside the front keeping watch, but Nel had no intention of sneaking past them. They'd probably ask for a password or papers or written authorization or something along those lines. She wasn't going to take chances and assume they'd be easily fooled, even if a lot of these soldiers were backwater wannabe rebels. She would head around the back way instead.

She found her entry along the side of the building, a small door leading to an alleyway. The only problem of course was that it was locked. A nuisance to her forward progression to be sure. She wouldn't let that stop her though. She attempted bypassing the lock at first, it was not as easy as she had hoped it would be though. She had never been the best at hacking after all. Eventually she got fed up and activated her omni-blade. Slicing it into the lock, she pushed the door aside and moved in. Lucky her, it was just a side room and no one had noticed.

Although she did hear a cloak dissipating behind her. She turned to see it was Saya. Even with his helmet on, Nel could tell he didn't approve of her infiltration skills.

"We can't all be super spies like you," she growled at him. "Do you got Vik's little hacker thingamajig?"

The salarian handed an OSD to Nel and vanished once more into his cloak.

"Stay close," she told him, not being able to see him but knowing he was still there. "We need to be in and out fast."

She exited the side room and entered the radio room proper. It wasn't much to look at inside, most of it was just the old radio DJ room, but with some walls hastily knocked out to create more space. Nel could tell from the way a lot of the edges and corners in the room were rather jagged. As well as one the support beams standing out in the middle of the room, completely naked, surrounded by communications equipment in an attempt to hide it.

Said equipment was a mix of the old and new. Much like the new dish on top of the building, Nel could easily point out what had been here before and what had been recently installed. The larger, bulkier transmission set for one was clearly here when the Seppies moved in. The crusty look of it was evidence enough of that. The decently sized server near it though was clearly new, and connected to many of the terminals strewn about the station. No doubt it was compiling all relevant data concerning CLC activities. At least you couldn't say they didn't keep proper records, Xeltravius wasn't hiring complete amateurs that was for sure.

There were about three Separatists operators working at various stations. They were monitoring communications traffic, both from within their own ranks and outside. Nel could tell at least one of them was monitoring Hierarchy comm buoys in the area, as he was feverishly typing down reports while listening into a set of headphones. More of the mix of new and old tech the Separatists had to make due with. They were resourceful, Nel would give them that, but cunning did not equate with brains. Not in her mind anyway. They were after all still bitching about a dumb war they lost centuries ago after all.

There was thankfully one terminal free of use. The operators also hadn't noticed her, or weren't paying her any mind. Even if they had, she was dressed similar to them, why would they bother? So long as she wasn't caught doing anything suspicious, she would be okay. That was her hope at least, as she headed to the free station and began turning it on. She plugged Vik's device into the system and pretended to keep working. The quarian soon contacted her once more.

" _Okay, I'm in,"_ he reported. _"Keelah, they've got a lot of data on hand. Might take me a bit of time to sort through it."_

"Make it fast," Nel whispered. "I can't keep up the unassuming technician act forever."

She did her best to look busy as Vik continued his search. Every now and then she looked over her shoulder to see what the operators were doing. They were still hadn't seemed to notice her, too involved in their own work. With any luck, that would be her saving grace here.

Vik soon called in again.

" _They've been here for a while,"_ he informed her. _"It's one of their main bases of operation on the fringes of Hierarchy controlled space. Basic Training for new recruits mostly, also a launching point for raids on Hierarchy installations and colonies. Oh, and they've been running advanced drills for biological warfare. No prize for guessing why, it's consistent with what we've found so far."_

"What about my dad?" Nel asked, trying not to alert the operators. "What about the juice?"

" _Sorry, I was parsing through a lot,"_ Vik apologized. _"There's a lab in the compound, they repurposed the old clinic to suit their needs. It had most of the equipment they needed to run experiments in after they cleaned it up. If the War Spirit's Blood is anywhere, it's there."_

"Along with my dad," Nel presumed.

" _No, according to what I'm reading he's refused to work,"_ Vik explained. _"He's held out against all their coercion techniques. Notes from the chief interrogator claim he's very stubborn."_

That sounded like her dad. Point was he was alive and he hadn't given up his secrets just yet. Good, they weren't too late.

"So where is he now?" Nel asked.

" _The old police station,"_ Vik informed her. _"Inside the prison section in the basement, solitary confinement. I can't into their camera feeds to see what his condition is, but that should be where he is. There's nothing on Decius or his men in the files, but they're probably close by as well. The police station isn't far from your current position. I'll mark it on your heads up display."_

" _We'll head there now,"_ Liara's voice cut in next. _"Nel, we'll meet you there and enter quietly. With any luck, we can get your father out along with the other prisoners and then quickly deal with the War Spirit's Blood."_

Nel just nodded, pulling the hacking device from the port. She had a location on her father, that was good enough for her. As she turned to leave though, one of the operators stood up from his desk and looked over to her.

"Hey!"

She paused in mid stride, unsure of what to do. Run? Attack? If he hadn't realized she wasn't meant to be here, she'd only draw more suspicion onto her if she tried either of those. If her cover was indeed blown, she was screwed either way. She decided her best option was to take a deep breath and hope for the best.

"Uh, yes," she asked.

The operators handed her a datapad.

"Take this to Commander Boudicas in the officer's quarters," he ordered her. "It's a compiled list of today's intercepted Hierarchy transmissions so far. He'll want to see it."

Boudicas? That was Hanilex's last name, it couldn't be anyone else. He was here, he was behind her father's capture. And she literally had been handed the means to directly confront him, maybe even take him out. However, she maintained her cover and simply saluted the operator.

"I'll go right away," she said.

She began to leave once more. However, as tempting as it was to get some closure on Han, to finally figure out why he was with the Separatists, let alone the CLC, she had a more important objective. She was done running off half-cocked. That was the juice's doing and she no longer wanted anything to do with it. She had to find her father, she'd deal with Han later.

* * *

The old police station was much like every other building in this place, decrepit, falling apart and held together with jury rigged construction recently added. The Separatists had only fixed up what needed to be rebuilt in order for it to be structurally sound. Letters were falling off the front entrance sign and the colony's old symbol for their police force, complete with their tribal colors, was fading. The walls had been patched with sheet metal and the front door replaced. Other than that it was jus a decaying old building. Although Nel imagined the inside was a bit more refurbished.

Getting inside would not be an easy task. She didn't exactly have a good reason to go in there after all. She considered some options to get by the guards at the front. Say she had food for the prisoner? No, she had no food period. Say she was there to relieve the lead interrogator? Was there even a session going on and would they buy that? She probably should've thought about this more before she got right outside.

However, that was where a certain Salarian came in. He appeared in an alleyway and motioned her to follow him. Nel did so, finding an old fire escape that led up to the top of a nearby building adjacent to the police station itself. It was worth a go at least and a better plan than any of hers.

The two climbed to the top, finding themselves looking down on the slightly shorter building below. It was still a bit of a jump and there were at least three guards on the roof. Not an easy entry.

"Ideas?" She asked the salarian.

Saya walked back across the roof and then took a running start. He leapt from the edge of the roof, gracefully turning through the air, before landing behind an old venting unit and hitting his cloak. Nel grumbled at the display.

"Yeah well, not as graceful as you, jerk," she growl under her breath.

Far be it from her to be outdone by the damn frog though. Maybe she could ask Liara for a better way in, surely she had found a less physically trying entry point. She contacted the asari over the comm.

"Doc, I'm at the police station," Nel told her. "Saya has found a way inside... it's requires being airborne. You mind giving me some options that won't put me at risk of shattering my exoskeleton?"

" _We're near the garage entrance on the other side of the structure, Nel,"_ Liara informed her. _"We can get in if you open the door from the other side. I'm afraid you joining us here might take you some time."_

Nel sighed, like she really needed this crap. Fine, she'd use Saya's stupid way in. Surely it was shorter of a jump than it actually looked. She took the same running start, heading just a further bit back across the roof. Taking a deep breath and clapping her hands together.

"So much easier on the juice," she glowered. "Practically eliminated inhibitions. Also pain."

That was why she had stolen it in the first place. It was also why she was still here in a way. For so long she believed she could only be the soldier she wanted to be if she used the juice. Being a part of this team though had shown her she could be better without it. Still, it was hard to get over the lingering fear, that she wasn't nearly the big action movie star come to life as she once had been.

It reminded her of her father. How often he said she couldn't do these things. That she would fail. That she would fall. That she couldn't be what she wanted to be. Not then, no now, not on the juice, not ever.

That memory was all she needed.

She ran full tilt for the edge of the roof, resisting the urge to scream. She launched herself from the roof and towards the police station, holding her breath to keep herself from panicking aloud. She dipped further and further down as the station's ledge came up. She slammed into it, her waist hitting the ledge hard. She gripped onto the crumbling side of the police station and scrambled to get up onto it. Her jump had been off, not at all perfect, her armor had probably weighed her down as well. As she pulled herself onto the roof though, she couldn't help but feel a tremendous sense of pride.

She had done it, she had actually pulled off a crazy stunt of hers. Something the juice would've made easy for her. She hadn't needed it at all. It almost made her laugh, but she remembered this was still a stealth mission. Clasping her mouth closed, she sat up and saw Saya across the way from her. The salarian was dealing with the last of the Separatist guards, stabbing into his back before slicing his neck, keeping his hand over the man's mouth as he laid him down.

Nel got up off the floor and walked over to the salarian. He was sheathing his weapon once more, his gaze slightly less condescending and demeaning. Not usual for him, considering how he always seemed to think he was better than them at everything. So she couldn't help but rub it in his face.

"Ha, bet you thought I wouldn't try that, didn't you?" She asked. "Like, I was going to wimp out or whatever."

Saya pressed something on his omni-tool, typing something. It soon appeared on Nel's helmet's visor in text. Three simple words; "Knew you could." Nel was a bit taken aback by the response.

"Did... did you do that to try and push me to make the jump?" She asked. "Why?"

Saya shrugged, typing something else out for her to read. "Need to be at best," the words said as they scrolled across her visor. Perhaps he sensed her indecisiveness on ground level in front of the police station. Nel admitted to herself she was a bit touched, but she wasn't about to let the frog know that.

"Yeah, well, next time be more honest about your confidence in me," she informed him. "I already know I'm badass, don't need you to remind me."

She could tell Saya was rolling his eyes even though she couldn't see them. He pulled his sword out once more to slice at the lock, giving them access to the stairwell. He then activated his cloak again and Nel entered in first. She walked carefully down the steps until she came to the first door and opened it slowly. She could see more guards parading around the halls, at least two. She was currently on the upper most level of the station by her guess, she needed to get down to ground level and over to the garage to let Liara and the others in.

"Saya, clear out baddies as you go," she told the salarian. "I'll get Doc and the others inside."

She couldn't really see the salarian, but she presumed he agreed to the idea. After all, taking out bad guys silently was his sort of work. Nel went down the corridor to the right, where she soon found herself walking along a bridge that overlooked the lobby below. There wasn't much to look at of course, save for the CLC banners hanging along the walls. Two rifles crossed together, a towering monolith of blades in the background with the image of a turian face etched atop it. A symbol of a desire to elevate the turian race to glory through violent upheaval of the current government. It was based somewhat on Xeltravius' ancestors' colonial insignia, because of course it was. And Vik complained about Nel's nostalgia-laden obsession with turian action vids. At least she wasn't making flags with Slyvestrix Stalaxian's face on them. She drew the line where before it got to that point.

She crossed the bridge and the fixed machine gun position in its center, currently unoccupied, finding herself in a hallway of former offices. There were stacks of equipment, mostly ammo mods it seemed, scattered everywhere, both in the corridor and the offices themselves. It made an already desolate ruin even more of a cluttered mess. She spotted one of the guards lugging a crate out of a nearby room as she walked past.

"Hey, give me a hand with some of this stuff," he called out. "Guard Captain wants this office cleared out for himself."

Nel played along, not willing to start another fight and potentially blow her cover.

"Where are we taking it?" She asked. "Doesn't look like there's much room up here."

"Yeah, we've been using this whole building as a damn armory for way too long," the guy admitted. "Evidence locker will have to do for now until they can get us more space somewhere more secure."

Nel grabbed the other end of the box and helped the guard carry it down the steps.

"One good thing about this," he said as they walked. "They're storing so much hardware here, obvious enough we're going to be in for some major action soon."

"You think so?" Nel asked.

"Yeah, I mean, we got bases poising to strike as we speak," he claimed. "That's the rumor anyway. I hear there are even some cells setting up on the core worlds."

"Huh," Nel shrugged, careful not to sound put off by the idea. "To think everyone thought the CLC was dead."

"Shows what they knew right?" He asked laughing. "They thought they killed the bossman, but he was just recruiting all this time. Building up for the big day when we teach the Hierarchy a lesson they'll never forget. They can't control every colony out there, they can't control us. Not for much longer anyway."

They finally got downstairs, nearing the evidence locker. Nel noticed the garage wasn't too far away from them, if the faded directional signs suggested anything of note. They entered the locker proper, setting down the box on top of a stack of them. As she did, Nel noticed something hanging in the back of the room that made her eyes go wide.

"Whoa," she said stepping off close to it.

Before her was a full suit of Havoc Soldier Armor. Dual omni-blade projectors, titanium alloy plating with tungsten layers for light but durable protection and, best of all, a built in jet propulsion pack for lightning strikes and maximum battlefield maneuverability. It was the premiere front line combat gear for any turian soldier. What they all strove to be.

She knew about it so intimately because once she had a set just like this. Her own Havoc Suit, back when she was in the military. She had earned it through dedication and service. Kept when she was transfered into the War Spirit's Blood program. Lost it when it all went to hell. Now here was another one, right in front of her. A symbol of how high she had risen and how low she had fallen. Held in the same building her father was a prisoner in. This was the kind of stuff Vik made conspiracies about.

"Yeah, pretty cool, right?" The Seppy guard cut in. "Got it off one of Hierarchy assholes who tried to break in here a few nights back. Had to strip him out of the armor of course before we plugged him, didn't want to damage to merchandise after all."

Nel held her tongue, as much as she wanted to cuss out this traitor for the murder of an honorable soldier. She couldn't break her cover just yet, she had to catch him unawares.

"They haven't decided which officer is getting it," he continued. "Probably Commander Bodicus, he is the one who caught them after all."

That was not happening. Not while she was here. Han had besmirched the colors they flew under when he teamed up with these bastards. He didn't deserve this armor. None of these traitors did.

"Anyway, lets get the rest of those crates," the Seppy told her, moving back towards the door.

That was her moment, the second he turned, she pulled her silenced pistol and aimed it at his head. When he turned around to see if she was following, Nel fired, plugging him in the face with a clean shot. When he fell to the floor, she rushed over, grabbing him by the heels and pulling him into the room. She hid him behind a stack of crates before taking one last look at the armor.

"I'll be back for you," she said.

Holstering her weapon, she headed out the door and made a beeline for the garage. There were some old police shuttles rusting there, along with two more guards patrolling the area. She needed to get through them if she was going to reach the door and let Liara in. She pulled out her pistol again and moved silently through the rusting hulks of metal. She managed to get behind one guard as she turned the corner of a shuttle and plugged him in the back of the skull. As he fell back, Nel grabbed his body and gently lowered it to the ground.

The second guard was closer to the door she needed to reach. She quickly moved across the floor, rushing to the side of another of the rusting shuttles. The guard turned and gave a quick look around, likely noticing his partner was gone. He kept his gun raised as he searched the area, moving past Nel ever so slightly. She jumped up as he did and fired two shots into the traitor's head. He plopped to the floor like a sack of rocks, freeing Nel up to get to the door.

Nel checked the guard to see if there was anything on him to do just that. As she suspected, there was a keycard on him. Suspecting it was for the door, Nel rushed over and slid it through the reader slot. It unlocked instantly and the turian slid the door open. She looked outside, peering through the darkness before taking off her helmet. She didn't want her own squad thinking she was one of the bad guys after all.

That was enough to convince both Liara and Vik to come rushing out of the shadows of a nearby alleyway. They quickly moved through the door, which Nel shut behind them.

"Where are the others?" She asked Liara.

"Kayap and Wrex are keeping watching on a nearby roof," she explained. "Just in case they spot someone coming or things change. It's best to have a backup plan of sorts. Where's Saya?"

"Knowing him, probably halfway through the station leaving several bodies in his wake," Nel informed the asari. "He's efficient like that."

Liara nodded in acknowledgment, activating her comm.

"Saya, we're inside, meet us near the entrance to the cell blocks," she said.

The trio headed out the garage and over to the doors leading to the basement. They kept cover over each other's flanks as they went, but there was no sign of any enemy movement. When they reached the door leading down, they found Saya in the process of deactivating his cloak.

"Have you dealt with security?" Liara asked him.

Saya nodded, before typing something that appeared in text on their omni-tools. "All rooms cleared," it read.

"Good, take Vik to the main security console," Liara ordered next. "We'll need his eyes on the cameras. Nel and I will head into the cells below. If there's anyone else down there, help guide us to them."

"Copy that, ma'am," Vik acknowledged.

The team split up from there, Nel and Liara venturing down the stairs to the cells below. As they neared the bottom, Liara turned the turian with concern.

"How are you holding up?" She asked.

"Being stuck playing Seppy makes my skin crawl," Nel replied. "It's going to take so many showers to get their traitor stink off me."

"Not what I'm referring to," Liara corrected her.

Yeah, Nel had figured.

"I just want to get him out of here right now," she said, referring to her father. "Once dad is safe I can give him a piece of my mind. Just don't expect me to not share a little bit when I first see him."

"I understand," Liara acknowledged. "All the same Nel, I hope confronting your father helps more than hinders."

"He hasn't exactly helped regardless of his position or mine," Nel informed her. "At this point, I don't see how anything will change. Save for the fact I'll finally get to tell him off for everything he ever did."

"Maybe, but you can't let your father's dismissal of you haunt you forever either," Liara told her. "Sooner or later, you have to move on. Both of you do."

Could they though? Did either of them want that? Nel wasn't even fully sure. She respected yet hated her father. Cared enough to not seem him get tortured and killed, but not so much that she wanted to see him by choice. Maybe this would close a chapter, maybe it would just keep festering. She honestly couldn't say. All she did know was that today was reminding her of a lot of things she would've preferred to just forget. That much she did miss about the Juice, even if everything else that came with it was a price she no longer wanted to pay.

"Then we might as well get him out of here quickly then," she concluded at last. "The sooner we do, the sooner we don't have to see each other again. Who knows, maybe I'll even get a thank you before he bolts."

"Would that be enough?" Liara asked suddenly.

Nel paused, but she shook off the question. She opened the door to the cells and moved in first, her pistol drawn. There was a pair of guards stationed along the hall. Liara moved into a small alcove to hide as Nel approached them. One of them moved to stop her.

"Hey, what are-?"

He never finished the question as Nel plugged him in the skull. His partner moved to engage, but Liara stepped out and fired as well, taking him down with ease. They searched along the cells lined up along the walls, but found no one inside. Nel growled openly as switched on the communicator.

"Bucket, what gives?" She demanded to know. "The cells are all empty."

" _Relax, he's here, at least I think he is, I don't know what you dad looks like,"_ Vik confirmed for her. _"I'm in the security room with Saya and I have him on camera. There's a turian in the interrogation room in the next corridor. Someone is going to town on him. It looks bad."_

Nel would've apologized to Vik for snapping at him, had her feet not already started moving. She dashed across the hall, Liara trying to keep up. They both soon came to the pair of doors leading into the interrogation room. Looking at the signs, they opted for the viewing area first, opening door silently. No one was there, save a camera recording the interview on its own. While a Separatist in the other room kept smacked another turian tied down to a chair.

"We can keep doing this all night, Colonel," the Separatist claimed. "It's not going to get any easier. Submit and start telling us what you know."

The Colonel just spat at the ground near the Seppy's boots. That would've earned him another punch, had Nel not fired first. Three rounds penetrated the one-way mirrored glass, penetrated the interrogator's head and back. He fell to the floor dead as Nel smashed through the rest of the glass and rushed over to the prisoner's side. She lowered herself down to get a look at him, seeing the same facial tattoo as hers on his face. She recognized his eyes and the color of plates instantly.

It was him.

"Dad," she said, lightly tapping him along his face. "Dad, can you hear me?"

Colonel Catonis' eyes suddenly focused, even tough his face was battered, bruised and scared. Eventually he finally managed to raise his head up enough that he could see Nel and his mouth went gaped open in shock.

"Nelanax? Wh... what are you doing here?"

"Saving your ass because mom still gives a shit about you, old man," Nel informed him curtly. "Guess someone has to."

She used her combat knife to cut the colonel's bindings. He reached both his hands in front of him and rubbed his wrists, grunting as he did. He coughed slightly as he readjusted himself and wiped the blood away from his mouth.

"Can you walk? Cause I'm not carrying you," Nel informed him.

"I'm not dead, yet anyway," her father replied. "I'll be fine. Just... help me up, okay? They've been going to town on my knees for a while."

Nel sighed, she supposed it was the decent thing to do. She helped her father stand, it was then he noticed Liara. He was a bit perplexed to see her.

"This one part of your little merc rescue team?" He asked, his gruff, authoritative voice somewhat returning as the pain subsided.

"My boss, actually," Nel informed him. "I had to convince her to come here to get you. You're lucky she said yes."

"Liara T'Soni," the asari greeted. "I've been working with your daughter for a while now. We've most recently been dealing with the CLC directly."

"She takes orders from you?" The Colonel asked. "That's a new one. Nel has never been one for orders. Partially because she never listens."

"I listen when it's worth listening to, old man," Nel snarled at him.

"Yeah, that sounds about right," The Colonel mused rather expectantly. "Anyway, I've heard about you, T'Soni. You're one of that Commander Shepard's crewmates. Rumors have it he's still kicking after all. I assume he's nearby."

"Sorry, Colonel, just me and my team," Liara informed him. "As well as yours once we free them. But they're not here as far as we can tell."

"You won't find them, they're dead," the Colonel informed her, his face contorted into a disgusted grimace. "Damn Separatists ambushed us almost as soon as we infiltrated the compound. They were waiting for us. More specifically, me. They saw the rest of the squad as dead weight, shot any who didn't surrender in the head and killed the rest anyway. They just wanted me."

"For the War Spirit's Blood," Nel finished for him. "They want you to perfect it."

The Colonel somewhat snorted at her.

"Yes, but if you're thinking of getting your next fix here-"

"I'm off the stuff, dad," Nel informed him bluntly. "Quit it, cold turkey. Liara... helped."

Colonel Catonis seemed surprised at first, before his gaze became more skeptical. He turned to Liara for confirmation, who merely nodded.

"She's clean and she wants to stay that way," she assured him.

The Colonel again seemed surprised, his gaze at Nel softening somewhat.

"Well... good to hear," he said gruffly. "I... I always hoped you'd get over it with the right help."

"Yeah, whatever," Nel replied just as gruffly.

For once, the Colonel just nodded, his snarl did not return. He just seemed to accept Nel's dismissive response to his words. Clearing his throat though, he got back to business.

"Regardless, this isn't the same drug the project we worked on," he informed them. "How much has my daughter told you about the War Spirit's Blood, T'Soni?"

"That you created it to give your own soldiers an edge over enemy biotic users, specifically Separatists using biotic enhancing drugs," Liara recounted. "It made them hyper accurate, faster, stronger, tougher, they didn't even feel pain, their minds sharpened enough that enemies slowed to a crawl under its influence."

"Yes, but it was never designed for all turians, just those without biotic enhancement," the Colonel explained. "The effects were always tuned to physical attributes, they had no effect on biotics. They're trying to make a new strain of the drug that enhances even more physical attributes, for longer more sustained periods of time. As well as triple biotic abilities in battle. With no side effects, save for an even greater increase in aggression."

As bad as they feared, but all the more reason it was good they got here when they did.

"Well, they can't be far along," Nel suggested. "I imagine Decius has held out on any secrets he has for as long as possible and you clearly didn't crack."

But the Colonel shook his head.

"No, Nel, you don't understand," he said sadly. "Decius isn't a prisoner. He's working for them."

Nel stepped back in shock.

"What? He's... why?"

"I don't know," the Colonel growled, confusion gripping his words. "All I do know is they stuck me in the same cell with him. He tried to convince me that the only way out was to work with them. When I refused to follow along and insisted on us trying to escape or signal for help, he called for the guard, who loosened his bindings and walked out with him under his own power. Said he was disappointed, that now they had to try it the hard way."

"The bastard," Nel snarled. "For the love of fuck, was there anyone in that stupid project who didn't turn out to be a traitor?"

"We can put a stop to this," Liara promised them both. "We just have to reach the clinic and destroy the drug samples inside."

And they had enough ordinance inside the building to pull it off. All they needed to do was...

" _That is not happening."_

The voice on the intercom was familiar and it soon had an image to go along with it. One of the monitors attached to the ceiling turned towards them. Moments later, Hanilex's picture appeared on it glaring down at them.

" _Hello, Nel, good to see you again."_

Nel acted before she thought, pulling out her pistol and firing several rounds into the monitor, shattering it to pieces. In the next moment, a holo-projector installed into the wall lit up, and Hanilex appeared again, this time as if he was standing there. Nel fired at him again, until her gun ran dry and her father forced her to lower it.

" _Are you quite do-"_

"Traitor!" Nel screamed. "Fucking traitor! Fuck you! I'm gonna fucking kill you! You hear me? Fucking kill you like the rabid varren you are, motherfucker!"

Even Han seemed taken aback by the threat, as were her father and Liara. Although the Separatist turian's gaze turned on he Colonel soon after.

" _This was probably not the best time to cut in, I can tell,"_ he confessed. _"But you need to know... you're not leaving that police station."_

It was then Vik contacted the team.

" _Liara, we have a problem,"_ he warned. _"The outside camera feeds have got several armed guards, including a few armored vehicles amassing outside. I think they have the place surrounded."_

A fact Hanilex confirmed.

" _I have teams taking up positions right outside the station as we speak,"_ he explained. _"So you're going to listen to what I have to say or they are going to move in and kill you. All I have to do is give the word."_

Nel could only think of how this day had gone from lousy to worse. Now she was stuck in a building with her father while her traitorous former CO held her besieged within its walls. That was bad news for Hanilex though, not her. She'd let him talk, they had no choice, but he had forced them to change more than their current attack strategy. At first she was just going to kill Han. Now she intended to make him bleed for every second he dragged this bullshit out and then kill him.

* * *

AN: This chapter and the next one are, personal in many ways. They deal with a lot of things concerning family, and it took a while to get right and more importantly for me to feel it was okay to upload. But, I feel its time. Nelanax has been in need of some more development and closure for a good long time and this story is more about her than anyone else on the team. So, here it is. I hope you enjoy it and that you feel good enough to leave a review.

But please don't ask me about the Annihilation book that just came out. Not right now. I'm not in the mood to discuss it. I'd appreciate if you tried to do that for me. Thanks in advance.


End file.
